Lord of Sin
by Zanderlux
Summary: The glory of the old world may have started shining thanks to three individuals, but the wasteland has only gotten worse. When a gate opens in the northern territory of vegas, an army starts invading. They didn't seem to get the memo though. They forgot not to bring knives to a gun fight. Now their homeland and the invading JSDF will have to suffer for it.
1. Chapter 1

**AWWWWWWW Yeah. I learn how to use the line break! Oh I also updated this chapter to look better.**

Chapter 1- The first lesson

When they first saw the giant gate it seems so fantastical. Something out of a grognak comic. Raul told me It looked like something he saw out of a textbook. ED-E Beep and booped something about its memory core having pictures of something that looked just like it. We all had questions about the random pillared gate in the middle of a desert. The problem was that we had a lot of them but only one of them mattered. Where did this gate come from? It was North form new vegas. Right near the river that separated vegas from the legion territory.

The old cowboy Ghoul asked a question. "Should we take a closer look boss. For once the thing doesn't look dangerous, just out of place."

I couldn't respond as the two massive doors swung open and I brought Raul and ED-E low to the ground. We were on top of a cliff overlooking the structure, it gave us a bit of cover. Then things that looked like winged deathclaws, with what looked like legionaries riding them started flying all over the place. Then what happened next shocked both the old ghoul and courier to the core. tens of thousands of what looked like Caesar's soldiers started marching out. They didn't stop marching. More of them keep moving out until they were nothing more than massive blobs of people.

Raul stammered. "What the hell! Boss didn't you pretty much kick them out of the Mojave! They look like they are wearing what looks like quality armor and actual swords. To top off the shit cake we've just been given, they are riding Dragons!"

"W-what the hell are dragons? You know what, never mind. I need you to go off and start warning nearby settlements and tell them to evacuate to the New Vegas stronghold." I took out my old vault 13 canteens with Benny lighter attached to it and handed it to Raul. "Tell then you speak with my authority. ED-E, you fly as fast as you can to my 38 fortresses and activate operation: gutting the bull." With Ed-E signature Beeps and boop, it flew off at lightning speed.

"What the hell are you planning to do Boss!"

"Me Raul, I'm Scouting for my army. Make a plan here and there. Do some sabotage. Maybe kill a leader or two. But most importantly, I'm planning to gut and burn those slaver scum until they start calling me the devil."

Raul didn't bother to stay so I can finish my rant. He was already running. Years of traveling with me made him understand that when I got violent. A mass grave was dug. And boy with so many legionaries here, there will be a lot of digging to do and that old ghoul can't stand putting to much strain on his old bones. I just check my recharger pistol and my old fashion Assassins suit. Then I got to work.

* * *

[Twenty days after Gate first opening]

General Maximus Greaticuswas livid. His troops were bellyaching. Not of the hotter than usual sun or the rotten smell of the land. They were complaining about lost supply due to their incompetents. I executed the man in charge, Because of him, we weren't able to feed our mounts, causing them to die of thirst or starvation. Then they started screaming about rashes or rotten skin, said men soon turned into an undead beast, we had to put them down afterward. Heavens's bless our souls.

Our scouts then informed us of ideal passageways that would help conceal our army, I didn't hesitate to take this good fortune the gods have shown us. Then the monsters started to appear. At first, they were a just giant horned beast of burden. My men killed them easily enough. Then came the massive bugs. They came in great numbers and started attacking my men. The big primantis like bugs were first. Little bunches of them came and dragged away a few of the injured men away. The things were dealt with easily. The bigger threat was the monstrous ants. They varied in size, but the larger ones breathed fire. The number they held and the carapace skin they wore made me actually take command of my troops. In the end, I lost too many than I care to admit.

I had to stay and let my men bury the dead. It would have taken two days but afterward, we would march. If only it were that easy in this godforsaken desert. More bugs came. These ones had burning orange wings. With speed and poisonous stingers, they killed dozen if not hundreds of my men. I pulled back and started marching again. The living was more valuable than the dead.

This was only the beginning of my army's hardships. I finally was able to find a source of clean water or at least that's what I first thought. I let my first I let the first of my cohorts drink from it. The effect didn't start immediately. It took a day or two. Then the men who drank the water turned into undead monsters. I won't speak of the details but I can use one sentence to describe it. The living were rotting. After that incident, I lost over three thousand men. A blow to my force but I cannot stop without at least finding something useful, so I kept marching my forces.

I kept moving until the land decided to through another tablow at me. I don't know what they were but my cadre of adviser tells me that the men call them tunnelers. We first encountered them when an entire cadre of men sunk into the ground. With discipline, my men moved to help their fallen comrades. Then they came. Hundreds, no. Thousands of them crawled out of the ground and charged my lines. They ripped and tore through men's armor as they parchment. Then thousands of my men died and they panicked. I rallied my men and drove the foe back into their caves. When the dust settled I was left with only half of my force. I had my captains count the ranks and found out that my original fifty thousand men, were reduced to a mear fourteen thousand. But... We still marched. If we found at least one village we could ransack it for supplies and slaves and march home. I could argue that the land wasn't worth the effort and my lord might forgive me.

Then I heard a scream. I didn't run towards it. That would be foolish. I would not endanger my men by having their lead in damager. I sat in my tent until one of my captain's messenger greeted me.

A man in light scout armor ran into my tent."Sir! Captain Shiurtus Raedus is dead." The man said a matter of factly.

"What! Did a monster get him? Or did he drink the water?"

"No my lord. His head… Exploded."

"What! How did this happen!"

"I don't know my lord. It might have been magic?"

"Then we have assassins in our ranks!"

Then an unknown voice spoke out. "No duh. Who do you think has been leading you down this road and sabotage your water. You should also tell you captain's to not wear giant feathered helmets. They are just screaming. Please shoot me, if you do you will sabotage the leadership of this massive army."

The general stood in a defensive posture. He motions for his messenger to go and find this person. "Who are you!"

The man spoke again. "One more thing. You should not have a one of your target practice boys send you this message. Your messenger clothing made it all too easy for me to track him."

I screamed in frustration. "Show yourself and I shall grant you a swift death!"

"Meh. I don't think that is necessary."

"Oh, why is that!"

"Due to extracting the language, that is pretty much a mix of latin with a few weird words here and there and information out of one of your missing captain, I learned something about you. Due to your hierarchy, you bundle your highest ranking members of your army into these clustered together tents. You guys also don't know what C-4 is."

"See four of what?"

"*sigh* alright let me make this simpler. You see four explosions."

The general's eyes widen. Then the tents in the center of the camp were engulfed in fire. In that simple night, most of the leadership of the enemy army was killed.

The courier was already gone when the legions of the camp went searching for him. It was very admirable on how they did so. They fought monsters, drank radiated water and most of their leaders are dead. As he stood on top of the hilltop overlooking the camp, he applauded them. These were very well trained warriors. So he will continue to follow them.

Over a day past and now they are finally in range of a town. They may be broken and number only around 1/5 of what they used to be. They still outnumbered the hundred and fifty residents of Vegas highway. A settlement he approved of years ago. The people living in the town should have been evacuated by now, but he still sees lights.

When He approached the town he found it fortified. Many of the folk were on hastily built battlements and held varmint rifles and 9mm. He saw them with determined faces and shaking hands. He honestly didn't know what these idiots were thinking. Even with guns, the foe was over five thousand strong, but these people believe they faced an army tenfold stronger. When he approached the gate he found it welcoming. The residents were more than happy to hold the army slayer. The man that broke the bull and the bear. The leader of new vegas and one of the three who is known as the leaders of the Americas.

The courier was given the run of the mill tour and a layout of defenses. Just as the courier was about to ask why the town had a death wish, a familiar rotten hand clasped his shoulder.

"Oy boss, please tell me you taken care of our little situation."

I smiled at my friend. "No. I missed some of em. I think we're about to meet a few thousand scared and angry legionaries."

The old ghoul just looked at me dumbfounded and responded with a shaking voice. "Umm. Boss... I was kidding about taking care of the problem. I really didn't think you'll kill many of them."

"Eh. Actually, I can only take credit for a small portion of it. Don't get me wrong, I can fill up a grave on how many I killed. It's just that the wasteland took care of most of them."

"I don't understand boss. These are legion, the survival of the fittest is a part of their beliefs. It's really hard to think they'll go down by a little bad luck."

"These guys seem to lack any understanding of the waste as if they aren't legion at all."

"So do we stand a chance boss?"

"Yeah. I've been meaning to ask you about that. Why do these people seem to have a hard-on for suicidal last stands."

"These people are insane! They believe old world tech is made by gods or something. So they are going to sell their lives to save the 'Relics'. I did my best to convince these locals to run but they didn't budge."

"These are the tribe's bro sent out. Man, I knew this was going to bite me. Can you at least tell me where my army is at."

"They radioed in an hour ago. They told me they were at least half a days away."

"Well shit. The enemy force will be on top of us for in the least an hour or so."

"What do we do boss?"

"What we do best. Teach dumbasses to get with the times."

"Really. Can't we ever choose to not plunge ourselves into certain death."

"Raul. We live in the radioactive hellhole. Do you think that's just a name we gave our home? Hell to the no. Everything we do will have a chance to murder us. In fact round the defenders, I gotta tell them something."

I walked on top of one of the towers. It had a few settlers and they eyed me. I understood why. What I was doing seem weird. They will soon understand. When I saw a crowd form around me I knew it was time.

"Alright people. You all think you're going to sell your lives for some scrap metal! Hell no!"

They all started to mumble amongst themselves. Wondering what I meant.

"The morons attacking our town are not legion! They are wannabes. A pansy imitation. They came with an army that could conquer the entire wasteland. Numbers so great, that if Caesar had them. We would have lost the war at hoover dam a dozen times over! You know what happened to them! The wasteland ate them up. They are one-tenth of their original size while they are hungry, thirsty, and tired."

The faces of the people lit up. A small glimmer of hope radiates off their faces. An idea was spreading in their minds. An idea that said they might make it. The courier's brother came to mind. He told him that if there is a spark of passion, then light it into a roaring fire with your own and you will have people who won't understand failure or limits.

"Now look at you. You are born and bred survivors! You casually live in a wasteland that actively tries to kill us, Yet we live! For every problem we face, we strike it down. Then greater one appears and we do the same. The people of the wasteland survive a nuke. Then the lands sent the red mist. We overcame that! We cast out the raiders and slavers. Then the wastelands sent the rogue brother of steel elder with his ghost and holograms. We overcame that! We hunted down the beast of the waste from our homes. Then the waste sent the monsters from vault 22. That vault drowns us in beasts that killed and infected us. Yet we still overcome that! WE BROKE THE BEAR AND THE BULL! So the waste sent the tunnelers to us. We will overcome that! Just like we will destroy this army of uneducated runts!"

A primal roar came from the crowd. A veil of ignorance was cast upon them. The people before that wished for a glorious death, was now replace with a crowd of war hounds thirsting for victory. In all due honesty, the courier had no idea if they could win, if he did the right thing in inspiring these people.

If he was lucky, the wasteland would eat up another thousand. He let out a little tear. He knew his luck was set at a one. And the one was just because of an argument he implanted himself with. The courier just checked his recharger laser pistol and assassins armor. He really couldn't be uncareful about his gear.

Hours have passed and the sun was setting with the mountains obscuring most of the view. It cast a large shadow over the direction of the attacking army, so the enemy force could only be spotted at the last minute. So the enemy would only need to close the distance was to charge 200 meters. Then another hour past and now the enemy would only need to charge 150 meters. Then another and all that was left was 90 meters. At this distance, they would hear them before seeing them. Then the last hour of the day went by and they no longer had a line of sight. Worse off is that a nightstalker pack started to roam outside the wall of broken cars and plank wood. Their rattling tails made any form of sound passing through impossible. The town wouldn't be able to fight until very close quarters.

The courier could only moan.

The courier just watched the darkness at the most like angle of attack. He wore the hazmat Darklight cowl, it allowed him to have night vision, he was the only one capable to spot the army now. luckily, he never allowed himself to be at a disadvantage because if he had shit luck, then it would bite him. He made sure he never let that happen because if he ever did, he would be laying in a shallow grave. Then he saw it. A silhouette in the green a recon force? If so he would be able to prepare. Then his heart sank when he saw a second, then a third and finally he started to see hundreds of soldiers. The mass of men started to march onto the town's position. I just upholstered my pistol, aimed it and unleashed a red lance at the first enemy. A direct hit and the beam lit up the area, allowing the other townsfolk to see the marching army.

They all lined up their varmint rifles and a few hunting rifles.

Then the sound of barking barrels filled the air. The folks of this town had credit due. Being tribespeople, it gave them the discipline to fire at night. Their shots weren't ranger good, or even veteran trooper good, but definitely better than your average trooper. As the army marched towards their goal, more of their number fell. By the time they were at a hundred meters over a hundred fell. Then a mass volley of arrows fell onto our position. Most of them missed, thanks to the cover set up for legionnaires. This included some sort of metal sheet roof. Thick enough to repel javelins that the skirt wearing slavers loved so much. This didn't stop dozens of arrow meeting the flesh of the tribals. I saw a chunk of the defending force fall into a heap.

I just continued to fire the recharger pistol until I needed to let it recharge again. Though due to this range, each twenty shot burst meets an individual head, either killing a man or at least leaving a third-degree burn of the man's face. This didn't stop them and the massive force of warriors just kept moving. The wall of flesh just kept moving forward at a surprisingly slow rate. They must be too tired from the lack of rest and supplies. It only brought me a small amount of hope, but things still looked continued to assault us with volleys of arrows until they stopped for no apparent reason.

If they ran out of arrow, then I gotta thank their quartermaster. Because they definitely ran out of arrows naturally.

Then I realized they were almost at 40 meters and I realized they were in the range of friendly fire. These are definitely not legion. I switched out my pistol for my 12.7mm submachine gun and let out a whole clip into the hoard. Each round met an individual mark. The 50 cal. Rounds hit their chests and tore through the melee oriented armor, ripping through them and killing the man wearing it. Their shields offered next to no protection from the bullets, they were unable to protect the user.

When the mass of men finally reached the wall, they were met with a volley of Molotov cocktails. I turned looking around to see who was directing this and saw Raul giving me a thumbs up at me. I would have kissed the man for the idea. The front row of soldiers writhed in pain, attempting to put out the fire. I soon realized that parts of the wall were made out of old dry wood. Some of the flaming troops rammed into it, setting the ramp into flames, killing the defenders or forcing them to scatter. Then only after minute past, the warriors fell on the floor as chard corpses. Only after a small amount of time past by, the section of the wall fell and the attackers still number in the thousands charged in.

The tribe set up multiple layers of defense to slow down the enemy force, but it did very little.

This town was just not meant to fight off a massive army like this. The hopeless fight went on and on like this until I realized the defenders would die before they would give up. I hoped that they would realize that dying for a thing that could be recovered letter on, wasn't worth it. I was wrong. The only way to get the remaining defenders to fall back and retreat to the next town. I turn to the only area that could host the tech. It was a small collapsed bunker, with a hole patched up with a few blankets. Raul turned to me.

"Oiey boss, I don't think we can hold out much longer before they get into stabbing rang."

"I know." I leaned into my ghoul's withered ear and whispered. "Once you hear an explosion, tell townsfolk to run and that their artifact was destroyed by the wannabe legion."

"Wait what are you planning boss?"

I didn't respond and just ran. I kept on running when I was at the building and kept running when I burst through the blanket. I only stopped for the hatch. I wrapped my fingers around the seal and opened it up. before the attack, I was waiting and wondered what artifact was based here I asked Raul what the people were defending. The answer was quite mind-boggling. I ran up to a massive wall of electronics. I was looking at the supercomputer that worked the entire U.S. nuclear arsenal. It was this machine that operated the first intercontinental ballistic missile. To me, it was scrap. We could no longer power the thing and just burying the damn thing would allow us to recover it. I couldn't do it with the tribes looking at me. Then the guardian of the place walked up to me.

"Hold great chieftain, why do you stand here and not fight off the hoard."

"Same as you, to make my last stand."

"So we have failed to defend the guardian spirit."

"uhh... Yes, we have and know we must make our last stand here."

The guardian just stood silent for a split second. Then he turned and kneeled at the massive supercomputer.

"OH great guardian spirit, Hear my words. Please lend me your wisdom, so I might smite your foes with it!"

I walked towards him placing my hand on a handle. "Sorry bub, but I don't think it asking now when it didn't answer then, will work."

"Don't be foolish it must!"

"If we collapse the tunnel now, we can recover it later."

"Don't speak such foolish words, the great spirit must not be desecrated."

"You will die."

"In times of great need the guardian spiri-" The man screamed in pain as I plunged my knife into his back. I acted quickly and started to drag the man towards the latter leading into the room and lead him against the wall.

I looked into the glassy eyes of the man. They stared accusingly at me. Almost as if in the last moments of the man's last second of life, he wondered why? "Sorry, bud. You wouldn't have let me collapse the roof of his place. Don't worry. When future generations benefit from this tech, it will be because of you and your people." I just placed my last remaining C-4 charge on the man's lap and climbed out. When I was on top, I head towards the last holdout, I activated the charge and the bunker collapsed in a ball of fire.

I ran towards the tribals turn townsfolk. The had eyes of despair. I scream towards them. "Follow me if you want future vengeance on these asshats!"

"We have failed! Oh, the great relic is lost to us."

"No. The legion has screwed you, losing your artifact is their fault, not yours. If you want to avenge your loss, then follow me!'

I didn't even bother looking back to see if they were following me. I just moved as quickly as I could. I don't even know if there were that many of them left. I was just too worried about the sizeable army behind me. He ran and heard the sound of footsteps behind him. I looked back and found only a small handful of villagers following me, plus Raul. There were 3 in total, Then I realized that was half the group of the remaining survivors.

"Hey, Raul what happen to the other three," I said with gasping breath

Raul responded with a deal more difficult in breathing. "They said they were going to slow down the legion!"

"Huh?"

Then I heard a massive explosion coming from the village. A hella way to go. We took their sacrifice as a sign to run faster. We moved as quickly as we could, but in the end, it was all in vain. We ran for a minute, hoping our endurance would save us. We soon saw a blockade, they must have split up the forces from the beginning and the army behind us was quickly following suit.

We didn't have time to break through and the pip-boy on my wrist tells me the army was a good twenty minutes away. Fuck it! Were shooting out way out. I pulled out my 12.7 and started firing into the blockade of thirty or so men. They were clustered together which made it easy for my rounds to find a target. The others soon followed suit. It wasn't enough.

Our combined gunfire felled only half of them and we were only a few meters away.

The shield wall thrust their spears forward and I was able to grab one of the shafts before it hit me. I shoved it aside and charged forward. I grabbed the shield and used the man's spear as a stepping stool and vaulted over him. Time seems to slow down as adrenaline flooded my skull. I drew a combat knife and assaulted the turning man. He grabbed my wrist in an attempt to grapple away the knife. I kept moving forward with momentum and headbutted him. He fell backward and his friends soon took notice. I drew a second weapon, my recharger pistol and shot it towards the man's neck.

I turned and saw his friend drop his spear, he was attempting to draw his sword. I didn't give him the chance as I was already shoving the combat blade into his neck. Crimson red flowed out and he dropped to the floor. Time resumed its normal pace and I saw the dead men buddies start charging at me. They were quickly felled by a volley of fire by the tribes. I realized that they didn't follow my example and stayed back. I didn't spare any more time on the subject and just ran through the hole we made in their ranks.

The last remaining survivors of the massacre followed me, Raul was laying covering fire as he ran. He had to quickly reload his six-shooters and tried to just run for his life. We kept moving, our hearts pounding in our chest, I honestly didn't know if we could outrun these men. Then I heard a radio transmission. It was the code speak of ED-E. A grin as wide as my ego plastered was over my face. I took out the radio on my assassin suits belt and gave out my orders.

"ED-E! Tell the vertibirds to break formation and double-time it! Tell them to follow this radio transmission and shoot the men in fancy metal armor!"

I kept running toward the direction my force was supposed to come from, unlucky for me, an arrow got me on the leg and I toppled forward. Then I felt more projectiles entire my body, my subdermal armor insured they didn't penetrate deeply, but I could feel them tear some amount of flesh. I counted three or four more, one landed too near my spine for comfort.

I tried getting up but the pain was nearly overwhelming. I just reach to toward my back to start pulling out the arrows. The first one was too much, I couldn't do it without some med-x. God, I wish I had stealth suit 2.0 with me. That would have been a godsend. But I had the misfortune of having it ruined five years ago. Ever Since I had to make due with the assassin suit. I took out a needle out to inject it, but a sandal stamped down on my arm.

"Agh!" I screamed.

A man in fancy plate armor spook. "Good! So you can scream. I will enjoy breaking you for what you did to my men and costing me, slaves. The other two may have died, but the girl will fetch a nice price. Raul starred intensely at me. Heh. you must be a necromancer, the way that zombie looks at you means you are its master."

I turned my head and saw the two dead people, a man, and a woman. The other was a girl in her teens. She was lucky and had only an arrow in her arm. Raul, on the other hand, multiple arrows like me. Due to being a ghole, he was able to sustain far more damage to his organs. My old ghoul friend should be able to survive his injuries.

"Your unholy magic will be wiped away." The officer raised his head at the sound of my vertibirds. "What is that?"

I felt the foot on my arm ease up. I grabbed the med-x on the dirt and quickly injected into my arm. The chemicals worked wonders and I was able to ignore the pain. I grabbed the leg of the man holding me down and I threw him off. The others turned to me. Two guards drew their swords and charged at me. I tore out one of the arrows stuck on my back, my phoenix implant got to work healing it ensuring I won't be passing out due to blood loss.

The first guard got into the swinging distance and I intercepted his sword arm, while this happens I stabbed the arrow into his friend's arm, with inhuman speed. I twisted the arm of the first man and me quickdraw my recharger pistol. I fired it at the first man's head. He fell into a slump. His still living friend was grasping his injured arm. I aimed my pistol at his neck and pulled the trigger. The man's neck exploded into dust, while his lifeless form fell onto the desert floor.

Their commander looked at me slack-jawed. "How! No man can move like that with those injuries!"

I heard the radio burst into life. "Desert jackal's, Loaded with thermal missles, permission to rain hell."

This gave me a devilish smile, obscured by the hazard mask. I press on the radio, I chucked out next. "Hehehe, I ain't no man. I'm the devil son! And with siren screams, I shall rain hell upon you."

The radio spoke once again. "Understood sir."

With that I heard the screech of missiles flying, then I saw the impact on the mass of human flesh. The screams of the burning damn could be heard and the stench of burning flesh filled my nostrils. The sight was of the underworld, filled with lost souls. That image could be seen on the faces of the last remaining survivors of the skizm. I pointed my figure at the captain and his last remaining men.

"Child! If you want to live with your soul intact, then you better start begging."

The once prideful captain fell to his knees and started sobbing out words of mercy. I just smiled at that image. I just smiled and turned my head towards the teen with burning eyes. I saw something in her. A need. A sensation that is completely unsatisfied. I knew what she wanted. The girl wanted the begging man to die. I will need to speak to this girl. For now, I just radioed in that we needed medical attention and that I would need a scouting party asap.

* * *

The next day I was in the tent of the last remaining survivor of the battle, the teenage girl laying on her cot. She had tan skin with a few tribal tattoos on her fair skin. Her hair was ebony black and silky long. Her facial feature was one of youthful teen girl. I saw as her eyes open to reveal emerald greens. They saw me and widen.

"G-great chieftain of the heaven spire. I uh-"

"Calm down. I am not here for your ass kissing. I just want to see how are you doing."

She gave me a rage-filled stair. "Bloodthirsty. I want those monsters to pay for killing my family. Those people killed the only people I ever loved, the people who took me in when I was orphaned."

"Well good. You can join the army. Where are planning to raid their turf."

I tried getting up, but I felt a hand grip my arm. "No. I want to follow you."

"Excuse me?"

"Don't think me ignorant of your legend. I know you broke two armies and created an empire that stretched across of all of California. I know if this new foe would be broken, it would be by your hands and of the hands of your companions."

"Kid. I'm not the sort of guy that has many people living around him and I'm not that trustworthy."

"I don't care what you've done only that I spill blood."

"Oh really, so you wouldn't care if I was the one who blew up the relic and killed its guardian."

"The guardian was an old man, too stupid to realize he was praying to a computer."

"I don't let people who aren't loyal to me, to follow me."

"Then I pledge my mind and soul to you."

"I honestly don't know, plus you don't know what I capable of."

"I don't care about what you have done. Only of what you can do. I will be loyal to you, as long I can spill blood."

"Are you sure. Very few people can stomach what I've done."

"I've seen my parents die before my eyes. I can handle whatever you can throw."

I thought about it and gave a nod.

"First, let me tell you a story and if you still think deep down, you are willing to follow me, then welcome aboard."

The girl just grabbed a pendant around her neck and open it. Inside was a picture of a river valley. I honestly didn't know what it meant, but it must have had a great deal of sentimental value. I just sat, waiting for her response.

"Shoot"

"Alright, let's start where I was shot in the head at seventeen years old. A fellow that goes by Benny wanted a chip I was carrying and stole it. He also buried me as well, but unlucky for me my brother dug me up. My wonderful little brother made a deal with a man name house. I had to retrieve the chip and kill Benny. In exchange, he would save my life. Cause you know, getting a 9mm bullet logged into your gray matter is very unhealthy. I got a special plate in my skull." I knocked on my skull to emphasize the point.

"My bro and I went on a lot of wacky adventures. I dealt with the combat and science. He used his silver toughen and overwhelming luck, to keep me well funded. We chased down that checkered suit motherfucker across the wasteland. When we learned of his location, it made our plans very… complicated." My breath started to pick up pace and I clutched my fists.

I steadied my breath and continued. "Us two were ex-slaves of the bull when we were seven and eight. I'll spare the gory detail of that, it would matter now because that's more of a personal matter. All I have to say is that we escaped by murdering one of the guards of Caesar and he wanted our heads ever since. Because of this little detail, I decided to tell my bro to enact a plan we were cultivating." I learned in. Closing the distance between us.

"In our adventures, we learn we could do a lot. That gave us a lot of options, some of them were good others were risky. We chose to create one of the greatest empires the west wasteland has ever seen. This took selling out one of our friends to gun dealers, overthrowing an elder of the brotherhood of steel, assassinating a certain leader of the NCR, gaining control of big mountain and it's tech, dealing with an old friend in the divide, backstabbing all of my companions from the Sierra Madre casino, to trick an elder into trusting us, then proceed to backstab him as well to gain control of the casinos tech. We gained the loyalty of the Khans by promising payback, I turned a man who found a semi-nonviolent god into a warmonger to fit my needs and a dozen of unimportant little tidbits." I noticed the eye's of the tribal girl seemed to widen, I bet she didn't think I was going to be this forward. Whether her opinions of following me has changed, is yet to be seen.

I continued my story. "In the end, I learned I was a control freak. All of these parts were done to ensure our control of new vegas and its surrounding factions. My brother went off to kill house, he succeeded in replacing him. At the same time, a friend and I went off to kill the most dangerous man in the Mojave. We went ham on the base. A lot of bodies were left. That includes Ceasar and my friend." It's been so long since I thought about the people who died.

I sit back and slump down. "After that, it was all about clean up. I sold out the van grafts to the brotherhood. I destroyed the crimson caravan and replace them with someone who would favor my interest. I turn the boomers into a military group under my control I gutted the enclave organization and turned them into the desert jackals. I won the battle of hoover dam. I let the followers live, only because they cut the cost of medical supplies. Then I removed any legion presents in the Mojave, at the same time we started to create another army to fight against the NCR. Once that war sparked off, all we had to do is wait. When we saw their main force advance towards us, we activated the divides nuclear stockpile. On that day the bear was crippled and we sent the national sword. We cut deep into their turf, it was a bloody battle but in the end, we won. We even got new Reno from the war and boy the tax on porn created quite a few government projects." Thank you Marcy Rose and your cult following the in the porn industry. Your dedication to your job made quite the pretty penny.

I straighten my back in pride. "When no one was gunning for us, we started to use the tech we gathered. Big M. started to create new innovations for us and we raided their database for any worthwhile blueprints. We used vault 22 tech to create sustainable farming. I used the vending machines from the Sierra Madre to start creating raw resources. And a dozen other things, that's not what is important. What is important is that we learned that all of that cost power and a lot of it. So I was sent by my brother to D.C. to find information of any info we could use. I ran into the bitch of the east." My face automatically made scowl.

That woman never did anything without an hour argument back then.

"A name earned by the local raider groups. The woman was also known as the lone wanderer. She has her own story, That could be discussed at a later date, the thing is important that she was the leader of the west branch of the brother of steel. We weren't the best of pals, but we saw eye to eye. Plus I had a respect for her. She made her own little empire that rivaled my own. She and I were looking for the same thing. We both understood that we couldn't repeat the mistakes of the past and made a non-aggression pact."

I then I became rigid and stiff. "We both moved south to Boston. The woman was going there any way to fight an organization called the institute. We didn't go there on foot either, we rode a gunship called the Prydwen, a marvel of engineering. The lone wanderer was able to build it out of enclave tech and hidden American battleship designs. That baby could hold a division and had enough firepower to level a city block. I learn that I may be an empire of industry, but the wanderer was one of war. Her eyes were one of a crusader and a rage-filled leader." I have to admit that she was talented and without her, the wasteland would be far more different.

But, **He** was another story.

"When we got down to Boston we found another… talented individual. He was known both as the lone survivor and the lone savior. He pretty much defeated the institute alone. He didn't destroy their base, he just killed all of the leaders and took over the facility. He also created a private army known as the Marines. They were called the Minutemen, but they got better equipped and new organization structure. He had the tech known as the fission generator and moved to create a smaller version called fusion engine. He didn't really need it and was mostly concentrated on agriculture. Lucy us. This made making a deal a bit easier. Wanderer wanted to invade, but my bro was on the phone at the time and was able to make a compromise. We negotiated to turn the three nations into an official empire. We all lived happily after all, right?... Wrong."

Now came the bad part.

I slacken and slumped in my chair. "The three of us started to call yourself by code name, or code numbers to be precise. Survivor is 111, the wanderer is 101, my brother is 21, and I'm 6. We didn't this to talk to each other more than we have to. We don't hate each other, but we are wary of one another. We have trouble trusting one another, but we swallow our pride and worked together. We spread the power source to one another and all of our other tech. We do what we can to help one another, but it's been getting worse and I realized I created a new cold war. All four of us are so used to having an obstacle we find it alien to have equal alleys."

Well, we got scout reports beyond the gate and now it seems we do have a new goal. A rich new land, virgin soil and rich metals lay everywhere. I can't do it alone. We may have kicked out most predators, but with 22 tech running in our soil, so the besties are everywhere and quadrupled in number. The great tunneler war is still raging, ever since those lizard mother fuckers crawled out of the divide, we're stuck fighting them with eighty percent of our forces. With the tribes moving into our territory, the raider population is doubled in numbers with all the new territory left for them. This means I need their help and this might cause a bit of political hell. If you join me you're accepting the hell of politics, the chance of getting backstabbed by me at any moment, a war where we will most likely be outnumbered by an unknown enemy, and all you will get is vengeance. Are you still willing to join me."

"The tribal just leaned in and looked at me in the eye. "Heh. You don't know it, but you gave me an ultimatum. Follow me or die with my secrets. Let me break the people who murdered the two people I loved the most and you have my undying loyalty, the monster of the waste."

I slacked the grip on my recharger pistol and smiled at the fact that my new companion is quite smart. "Congrats girl, you just made a deal with the devil."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2-knowing your limits

He had one thousand men and securitrons. He had that little and his brother still expected him to successfully invade a foreign land. The courier just couldn't believe his brother. At best he could secure the gate and do some scouting of the land. But His brother expected him to create a small empire and a massive fortress, with one thousand combatants. He knew they'd be equipped with the best gear and he won't be getting the runts of the litter, but still, it's just one thousand troops. Well, one thousand, two soldiers. He could train the three hundred personnel being sent with them, but that would pretty much dumb idea.

The gear had to be maintained by someone. The courier looked up at his brother with an uncowled head. He stood there with his signature smug face. The boy was twenty-one and looked younger. He had an all-white suit without the blazer. It was too hot for one anyway. I looked at his youthful face and bright blue eyes for any deception. He looked for a long time until his brother brushed his semi-long white hair back.

"I am a hundred percent serious on this. That's all I can spare. I can't relocate any more forces or the tunnelers will start spreading in Central America, where no army can stand and oppose them. All I can give you is half of our reserve forces."

"Can we at least find any outside sources to bolster our numbers?"

"I already sent out a call for any mercs, tribal volunteers, and doubled our efforts in the mechanical infantry. I am also sending some old world armor vehicles I've been saving for a rainy day. I only have one last suggestion for you to take."

"Oh for the love of… Not those two."

"That's why you'll be talking to them. 101 is obviously going to be a challenge. Her warrior way is practically granite, that she's going to take charge and try to wrestle away command. You can definitely strong arm her at least do a joint command. Any pros her presents will give is that you will have one of the greatest tactical minds of the west. Her bodyguards and maybe one hundred more troops to lend assistance."

"What the hell? Can't she spare more than that? She is the prime military power of America's."

"The super mutants have made a new army that can clone itself. They are currently held up in some vault. Currently, her two hundred thousand strong force is busy for the most part. Not anything fierce, but they have a lot of cleaning up to do."

"So 101 won't need her best back home and I can expect her… best will come."

"Yup, Advance vehicles, and super soldiers. Plus the hellish woman herself will also be on the front lines."

"Ugh, don't remind me. What about 111 and his marines."

"Robot uprising. They can handle it. The old institute just simply activates all synth kill mode. One of them was a pretty influential member. The guy is bolstering his terminators with a robot army."

"That sounds like a hands-on task, which also means he will most likely not send aid. It would be crazy to."

"Oh, my innocent older brother you're so young to diplomacy. Due to our small forces and high priority target, the man will send a token force to act in his own interest. I guarantee you he will send a smaller or equal force to aid us. I wanna say eight hundred or so. This will give the man the ability to stake claim to some considerable turf. 111 can also be expected to transport his and 101 forces to us in record time. He does own the teleport network."

"Fine. call em up and tell them."

"HA! Not in my life big C. You are going to tell them, while I handle the kickback of canceling a few public works to fund our crusade."

"Ugh no, please let me handle the angry mob of people and you can handle the-"

My brother quickly exited the room and activated the comms for both 111 and 101. They flickered into a screen and gave me both cold and angry stares.

"Lovely people who are loving and caring."

111 was the first to speak. "Right and I suppose you're talking about someone else."

101 followed up. "Kid, you better tell me why I'm here. Every moment here is another moment I could be scratching my ass because that would be a better waste of my time."

I told them everything that they needed to know. About the gate, it's resource and the people who attacked us, then I told them of what I wanted and the number of troops we could spear.

101 was pretty much spot on, of what my brother predicted. "Fine, I will lead the charge and send aid."

Under the courier breath, he said, that she didn't even say she would say she would send aid first. "Look, It's under our territory and under our jurisdiction. We will be using one of our generals in this assault."

"I won't be putting my men under the command of another commander. You would also be wasting me by using me as a grunt."

"I'm not saying you would be. We want you for your military mind, but this isn't your operation. It's ours. General Vauban is quite a talent in the art of defense, but he is more than willing to accept advice from you."

"Ah that perfect, he'll sound like a perfect assistant."

"Look I'm not giving you a choice, I'm giving you an ultimatum. I will reject your help if you seem like too much trouble."

The woman gave a death stare that could make the reaper himself shiver and quake. The woman is quite headstrong and isn't used to giving up power either. I annoyed me like hell, but I understood. I'm the same, but I can't back down.

"Look, equal to equal, I need to work with me. It just makes sense for us to take charge. We are more than willing to work with you but we can't fight amongst each other. Especially when it's something this important. Can we count on you."

"... fine but I expect full authority over my brother and sisters. And some leeway in operations."

"Granted and what can we expect in terms of forces."

"My personal guard, the 34th armor battalion, and the 13th proud and noble. This means you'll have twelve elite units, five squads of brotherhood vehicles, and a hundred fifty knights and their squires. We were able to grab some breathing room in the south that let me bring some armor."

I gave a smile and thanked 101 and turned to 111. "I wish to know if your willing send some aid as well."

111 just looked at me with his fingers interlocked. "I can give a half strength marine division, It consists of seven hundred fighting men and ten light armored support tanked, with five advance heavy tanks. I will send a representative to keep my best interest in mind. I will also send a document of everything I expect to receive from this different reality. This is for research purposes, so you don't need to panic." The man gave his offer with his trademark cold calculating voice. Then and sat back and asked something before he could continue speaking.

"Alright, let's cut to the chase. What do you expect back and what is the line for using your division."

He gave a smile answered. " Fifteen thousand acres of prime real estate. In term of my troops, I expect you to treat them as if they were your own and to make sure any casualty they take is at the minimal."

"... I can only say that I won't throw their lives away and eight thousand acres of land, at maximum."

"I can also give two thousand trained settlers and one thousand robotic combatants."

I see what he's doing. The division was must have been in some heavy fighting and needs some time to recuperate. The settlers are just refugees in disguise and he just wants to get rid of some potentially dangerous assists. He's trying to look like he is doing some charity for me and make babysit his troops. Oh well. It's still a large force in nature.

"Ten thousand acres and you men will be kept as reserves. That's all I can give you."

"Fine. I get the transportation ready, I'll be off, I wish you luck."

Dick. I said under my breath.

"So 101 I'll see you in a month."

"Ad victorian"

The screen shut off and the courier walked to the nearest window. He was currently in his 38 fortresses. Retrofitted to be a better area of government. It wasn't open up for the public, but his personal guard, known as the desert jackals. An elite force made up of personally picked candidates. They have a long list of what gear and enhancement, that are given to them to turn them into killing machines. Then there were his special diplomats. The courier hardly trusted any other humans, so when they needed a staff to help govern the wasteland, he removed their brains.

He was using the same tech that the brains use to remove his sense of violence in big M. The special diplomats never left the tower and any that had to for other state need were heavily screen. To place the last cherry on top of the cake is that they were never forced to do this. These people were volunteers or people were too scared of him to say no. Either way, these people can quit whenever they wanted to.

As he looked outside he saw the massive city he and his brother built in a matter of five years. It's still under construction, but it's still massive. The casinos were brought to pre-war standards, they shined with new walls and rebuilt infrastructure. They glitter like brand new building, they did so because construction finished only a week ago. In fact, all of the old and destroyed buildings of new vegas are about complete. With all the knowledge of the old world and the new world, we made great progress.

Free side was now a place that held rebuilt building and housing, the old Mormon fort was turned into a policing station for hiss securitrons. It was covenant too. The followers of the apocalypse are not needed in freeside anymore. Not when the third sector, known as Freeview was in need of their help. Indeed they are moving forward, the wall that separated Vegas and freeside is still up. The reason was somewhat… nice. The new parents of free side didn't want their kids exposed to the sin of new vegas. Huh, standards, that's new.

Yes, New Vegas is growing and that could be seen by the newly built walls of his city. The old poster boards that made the original wall were torn down for sturdier concrete one. The boards are currently being used to wall off Freeview, though there isn't enough to wall off the entire sector, giving the residents of the area a free view of the land. Thus the name. The resource is made by fabricators is what pretty much allowed them to make such great progress, but the technology is still limited. The things are old as well, giving them flaws in the machinery and turning out raw resources that are just not up to standards. It's fine to make semi-complex items, but it isn't able to create the microcomputers or fuel that's needed to truly expand.

It's flawed, but not bad. What is bad is the manpower shortage they are suffering. Machines do the mundane tasks of life but complex tasks are beyond the machines. He needs educated people. Something he has to wait for. Or… he can convince some backwater fantasy peasant to come and work for him. Who needs to wait for the next generation.

* * *

[The gate from the other side]

General Ricktus Gloryius sat upright on his Pegasus. It was a month since the only survivors made it through the gate. It was a small scouting party of four men. Each one was deeply scarred by their body and mind. He barely understood what they were saying, all he got out of them is hell and its demons are coming. Which is why he brought the empire's greatest magic casters, educated in that art of exorcism. It didn't hurt them either that they also knew some offensive spells.

His lips rose upwards. The fame and glory of are upon him. They had a month to prepare and to reinforce the gate. Hundreds upon hundreds of men formed a shield wall at all times. A properly fortify barricade of stone surrounded the portal, holding some of his finest archers. If that didn't make any demonic army shutter in fear, then his army of a hundred thousand men surely would. They had to separate it half to deal with the men in green, but report told of an army of only ten thousand has been spotted. A victory to be sure.

The sound of rumbling gate was soon heard and a fate he knew was coming. A day where man shall defeat the gods greatest foe, Demons.

When the gates fully swung open, the entire situation seems anticlimactic. The general just stood his ground on the hills that surrounded the gate. The area held even more archers wielding the new invention of longbows. A piece of technology that symbolizes the superiority that the Empire symbolized. He gazed down and finally saw movement. He signaled that the casters should ready their runes, in preparation for the demons.

He saw golems, not a lot of golems, in fact, he could count them all in one hand. It mattered very little. He gave the order for the casters to activate their spells. Great glowing runes soon appeared and great heavenly arches of lighting fell upon these unholy metal men. Once stuck, great plumes of dust were uplifted and obscured the field of view of the beast. He must be wonder what went through the frightening mind of those never born.

* * *

"DUDE! We got hit by lighting! That was awesome!"

"Quite! Ready our missile launchers and ready a single volley. Once that's done fall back and let the Vegas securitrons take care of the rest. And no theatrics, I put my ass on the line to get you newly titled knights into the first wave. Don't make me look bad!"

The young squad of knights did what they were told. Armed in their heavy rig of power armor and various weapons, they readied themselves by equipping their AP missiles. They got into a battle stance and fired. Four streaks of smoke fired out of their weapons and flew across the field. Each one aimed at the base of the stone wall. Four of them hit perfectly and exploded at the same time. Before the enemy could register the four armored men fell back, done with the duty tasked to them.

In perfect coordination row, upon row, upon row moved the Iron fist of New Vegas. The couriers heavy securitrons moved at twenty miles an hour, the thick armor on their front slowing them down an amount. Heavy 50 cali. Machine guns, Gatling lasers, red glare base cannons, plasma cannons, and gauss cannons, are the many armaments being wielded by these death machines. On top of them held either a nuka cola quantum cannon, a Gatling gauss gun, Tesla cannon, a heavy missile cannon, or heavy energy cannon. The machines are expensive, but overwhelming powerful and over two hundred of these monsters are charging the front line of a bunch of Roman dudes. The results are… unfair.

The machines just grind through the mass of flesh at a slow rate. Killing dozens in a matter of seconds. Then came a new squad of Brotherhood knights, they held various amounts of powered melee weapons and quick use jump packs adorned their back, of their heavy rig power armor. These men are currently behind the line of securitrons that are currently firing away at the advancing men.

They just spared glances at one another and revved up their weapons and braced themselves. Great pillars of fire erupted from the massive backs of these men and they quickly flew up high in the sky in pairs of three. As fast as they flew up on high their jump packs died out and they plummeted down to the ground. The eighteen knights split evenly into groups of three fell on the back line of the mass of men. The impact they made on contact threw up a dust and red mist, as they crushed the men in legion uniform under their steel boots.

The massively armored men started to swing their power hammered and fist in wide arches, killing a score of men in one blow. The knights whaled on the tight cluster of men. The power armor and the kill zones around them, make the knight unkillable by regular human hands. The three men squads also ensured that their backs are covered by their teammates. Then more brotherhood of steel knights squads from beyond the gate joins into the battle. Each one of them had the heavy rig version of power armor.

The second wave of powered armored warriors moved out of the gate. These ones didn't resemble the shining plate of the brotherhood, or their massive hulking armor. They wore the thin frame version of power armor, making the users silhouette much smaller than their larger counterparts. Its model was known as V-03 jackals armor, the design is reminiscent of the remnant power armor used by the Enclave forces. The armor is tailor-made for each individual user and is quite maneuverable and uses both, Big mountain and institute technology. Some of the improvement is saturnite plating and fiber muscle to enhance strength.

It's up to the individual user to use the denser plate in exchange for gaining more weight or use a lighter plate for inhuman speed. The armor also has a simpler version of the Atomic-valence technology to enhance reaction time and perception. The armor can also hold multiple different modifications, thanks to fusion generator technology. These ones wearing the best power armor new vegas can offer are known as the desert jackals. Five of them encircled a single man wearing a cowl.

"Bossman looks like we can move up the Boomers, we're going to need them anyway to take out those boys on the hill."

"Yeah, that sounds about right, were outnumber, have to fight an uphill battle and to top it all off, we are in a bottleneck. These guys have literally almost every advantage and yet they are getting slaughtered. We haven't even brought out the vehicle or vertibirds. I feel like we are going to get lucky." Then I mentally face slapped myself. Hell, even one of my jackals responded.

"Aaaaand just like that, you made this harder on us."

"Just get ready to respond to any disaster that will come, thanks to my stupid mouth."

The Tribal girl soon ran up to me in an outfit, that resembled that of something a woman would wear in Joshua tribe. She clutched the bozar rifle I gifted her, close to her chest. I saw in her eyes that she wanted to open fire, in the fighting. The promise she made me was the only thing that stayed her hand.

"Oy, tribal girl, what's the low down of the rest of the forces, are they ready to move or what?"

"My name is Lucy."

"I'll learn your name if you live longer than a week."

"Ass"

"See, Why do we need to learn each other first names, if we are already lovingly insulting each other. And about those forces."

"Ready at your command courier."

I just place my hand on my handles and pouted. "Awww. What about that adorable nickname you gave me."

"You'll earn it when you learn my name."

"Fine. Lucy, just get our other troops here."

"On it ass."

"I knew you liked me."

"That's too strong of a word for what I feel for you ass."

With that, she ran off to relay my orders. I watched her run off into the black void if the gate. Trying to make sure my eyes stay on the back of her head and not for them to somewhere else. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I jinxed out of the way. I moved behind one of my powered armored guards and I saw a shower of arrows assault my position. My guards reacted to cover my body as well, but once they saw the arrows bounce off their armor, they just stood there. I saw a missile launcher hanging by a strap on one of my bodyguards, I lunged for it and took it.

The man just stood there and let it happen, he didn't seem the type to argue with his boss. I shouldered the weapon and aimed it at the hill before the next volley. I saw them release their arrow and I watched them blot out the sun. I lined up my shot and then squeezed the trigger and then took cover behind one of my men. The missile flew across the battlefield and saw it exploded. Dozens of the archers were flung into the air and crash down on some of their fellows.

"Here's another round sir."

"Thanks. God, it's embarrassing to hide behind Y'all guys."

"Why do you think I let you borrow my baby! It was outta pitty my boss man."

I just groaned and reloaded the weapon. That's when I felt my legendary luck hit me. I heard a thundering sound. I reached up to my ear and activated my comms device.

"That's not one of ours! What the hell happen!"

A deep voice of one of the brotherhood members spoke. "One of our squads got hit by a ball of fire, it was quite powerful. One has his armor overheating, another is reporting heavy burns and another was injured."

"Where did it come from?"

"A woman with a stick, but I don't see a flamer or incinerator, so I don't know how she did it."

"For the… She a fucking wizard. Didn't you read the grognak comics I issued you, also fill her up with lead or cook her, before she fires another one of those things."

"Sir magic doesn't exist, there must be a logical conclusion and most of my troops are stuck in melee combat."

"Fine, I'll handle it. Next time read the fucking book, or next time this happens I'll force you to create a fan club and force you to cosplay as grognak himself!"

"I… My thanks, sir."

I just radioed my jackals and gave my orders. "Alright tin cans, I want you to melt the nerds on top of the hill, don't worry about me I'll use the securities."

They didn't even bother letting me finish my sentence before they went off to kill off the wizards. I just ran towards one of the securitron before they rained arrows again. The thing was still unleashing its entire arsenal at the mass of human flesh. I just put away the missile launcher and pulled out my recharger pistol. I added my firepower to my securitron and saw my Desert Jackal handle the wizards. It would be beneficial to see how modern gear handles the freaks of nature.

The first one to open fire was the leader of the group. He had a high rate of fire laser rifle primed and aim it at one of the wizards. He unleashed a torrent of bolts and they impacted the man to little effect. A strange shield was blocking his shot. The wizard did seem worried as he jumped on his staff and tried flying away. It didn't help as my Jackals had near perfect aim and reflexes thank you the armor and implants they had. He held his fire for a few seconds more until the robed man just fell out of the sky. I radioed in.

"How many shots?"

"Bout twenty-five automatic bolts. Gotta look out for these ones, they can take a few hits."

"Do you think if we used stealth or powerful single shot weapons. They'll go down easier?"

"Maybe, after this we I will review the battle data."

I just returned to firing at the massive crowd. I kept an eye out though. I saw my guards dispatch the other magic casters with the same efficiency. I saw one of the wizards notice his friends were dying and hoped in his broom and try moving to a better position. I once again shouldered the launcher and started kiting the reticle to the wizard's movement. He was flying quickly but I was able to track him.

I waited for a single second and I got my opening. I squeezed the trigger and the projectile moved at great speeds. It first seems it was going to miss but the two got close and collided. The hit broke through the shield of the man, but I was unable to see if it killed him or not. I just saw the man fall from thirty meters. It would have guaranteed any injured man's death.

The fight was still a one-sided battle. We were slaughtering the enemy force. It would only take a little bit more of force to tip it to the braking force. Then he heard his earpiece blurt into life.

"Everyone is here and 101 got a bit stir crazy, so look out for that.

Then I saw her soaring through the sky on a pillar of fire. 101 had a light rig, like my jackals, giving her more height. Once she was descending she activated her jump pact to slow down her fall. Once she landed on part of the thickest fighting she started swinging her power hammer. Her movement was deadly. Every time she moved, three men would fall dead and she didn't seem to slow down either. In fact, she seems to be moving faster, almost as if she loves this kind of combat. I guess she does, I mean she is very good at it. She always lands a killing blow and no one seems to be able to land on her.

It's almost she has a sixth sense about it. I shook my mind out of this stupid and took out something with more firepower. I drew dinner bell. I switched it out my 12.7mm submachine gun for this shotty. I loaded some incendiary shell, A.K.A. dragons breath shell and aim it to the at the nearest legionary. I fired and the weapon penetrated the thin metal. He went up in flames. I continued this until I there were no more living souls on that bloody field.

I got up and walked to the blood counted suit of C-03 power armor. A mountain of bodies surrounded the woman, her hand twitching on the handle of the weapon. "Alright, let's get the base set up."

The woman removed her helmet and gave me a smile. "Make my tent near the verti-pad, I feel like I'm going to be doing a lot of patrolling."

Just like that, we won our first offensive battle.

* * *

[The next day on the location of the gate.]

The marines moved quickly to put the finishing touches on the camp. They worked rather quickly and effectively. Their roll of a response unit made them quite the masters of setting up settlement and fortifications in a moments notice. They were placing the last of the boomer's big guns, on top of a prefabricated barrier. These ones were scavenged from the commonwealth, so you could see the place where they scrubbed off the gunner emblem.

They worked quite well indeed, their tanks and APCs in the other hand were in disrepair. I had doubts about accepting the thing and I was right in doing so. They first seemed fine when we first got them, but when we first open them up we saw hell. The damn thing was almost destroyed. I now understood why 111 was willing to give me some heavy armor, he was expecting me to repair it for him! It will take a week or so to get it moving without help. For now, we could use its twin linked main autocannon as a turrent, for the base.

The brotherhood was already taking in some survivor from the battle. Turns out, some men from the rear lines ran when they saw what happened. I don't blame them. The three brotherhood member hit by the fireball survive the attack, the power needs some repair though. The troops were already going patrolling around the newly acquired land. Unlike the Commonwealth heavy armor, theirs works like a charm.

The damn thing was brand new in fact! With wonderful new tech making the heavy machine a miracle of science. The thing had a massive plasma main cannon, giving it a barrel that unleashed hell. It also had a laser point defense weapon reversed engineered from the ones on the lucky 38. The lasers can attack infantry and destroy missiles alike. To add one last cherry to the already yummy cake, it had a frontal force field from Big M. It had issues of course. It has to have two large fusion generators on it at all times and the armor is a bit sub-par. It does compensate by moving at fifty mph and having a ten thousand miles operational range. I just sit back and whistled at the ten death machines.

I did bring my own, but they weren't for the front lines. These things were meant for range and to kill those pesky dragons things. We didn't encounter them here and it was obvious why. The gate was in a giant hole. It forced us into an uphill battle and it was just a terrible place to use them here. It was close quarters and it was very likely to be hit by friendly fire. So I theorize that the enemy didn't think they needed any.

If they do show up, we will be ready. The first type was called the fly swatter. It had three Gatling laser turrets on top of it and could fire pinpoint lances, at the fire rate of three hundred rounds a second. It was very mobile as well, able to relocate at speed of forty miles an hour. It also only needed one driver and one engineer, the gun was handled by an inbuilt robo-brain. The second type of vehicle I bought was just in case these lands also had a large beast problem. The Tank is commonly known as ballista. They were known for their high powered gauss cannon that could tear through meters of solid concrete. It also had a robo-brain and needed two fission generators. One for the tank itself and one large one for the cannon. All the other spec of the tank is like any other prewar vehicle. Good armor and normal speeds.

My normal troops known as the swords are the largest force of the camp. We had over nine hundred of them running about and practicing drills. The loadout was similar to the marines of the commonwealth. A suit of light or medium combat armor, enhanced by a layer of ballistic weave. They had grenades and everyday military gear. The weapons ranged from everyday high-quality ballistic weapons, or laser rifles if ammo is too much.

We did have one main difference between the armies. While the marines love moving around and commonly employed heavy weapons setups to create machine gun nest. My army was dead set on breaking defenses and used heavy shields to either deflect tunnelers waves or avoid getting pinned down. The things were made out of saturnite, and can withstand 50 cal. machine gun, the thing is heavy though and is commonly used by a single trooper of the squad. In terms of air support, we only had vertibirds that could either hold a squad of troops or used mounted guns. Either than that, we were shit out of luck.

The plan of our invasion was a bit daunting, we only had around two thousand men and women. We might be able to hold a city and our fortress, but that's pretty much it. I guess our plan was to hold out until we can get reinforcements. Of course there were a million other factors we had to consider, but for now, I'm happy we aren't fighting another industrial faction. Then one of my desert jackals came from one of his scouting runs. I sent him out a while ago on foot. I wanted the element of surprise, on an unaware enemy forces still ignorant of our presents and flying in a loud vertibird wouldn't help. That would be when we were a nightmare that mother used to keep their kids behaved.

"Sir. I got a to say… You have shit luck."

"... If you say we're fighting a giant army of robots, I'm going to blow a fuse."

"Nope."

"Thank the lord o mighty fo-"

"We found a fully militarized faction that has an abundance of tanks and air support. Oh, and artillery, we cannot forget about that."

I just sat forwards and locked my fingers together. "Tell me the details and then send out the word that I need the war council formed… Now!"

[A hour later in the main war room."

"Alright everyone we have a big and I mean a big problem."

The room had both 101 and General Vauban seated next to me. 111 was nothing more than a camera and a voice box. The device had a wire leading from the tent to the gate. From the other side had a satellite broadcasting the signal.

"I think you know what it is since I did send out a memo."

111 was the first to respond. " My terminal told me of a third faction that holds greater numbers than us and is also invading this land, what it didn't tell me how advanced are they."

"We don't have any real solid numbers. All we can say is that we didn't see any energy weapons, but a lot of fast aircraft."

The General Vauban of European descent spoke next. "Maybe we could negotiate with them."

101 rebutted. "We don't need to yet. They don't know we are here yet. What we have to ask yourself is what do they want. I can guess whatever it is, they are planning to use force and we are not in a position to say no."

111 added to this. "Look if they have sensors they won't be able to spot find us. Thanks to institute technology we can remain hidden from that."

General Vauban spoke next. "Look we can plan to remain hidden, but we don't need to do it forever. All we have to do is grab up plenty of lands and build up our forces, then we can speak in a position of power. If they are a bloodthirsty people, we can fight them. If they are here for a peacekeeping mission and dislike our land grabbing, we can feign ignorance, but we can also tell them to fuck off."

I had a problem with that. "What about any scouting parties sent our way and what about the locals talking about us."

101 responded. "I already sent out eye bots with clock and radio distorting tech. I can send down a team and wipe them out without alerting their main base."

I rebooted. "Would they miss them."

111 gave a chilling response. "I'll get ready the synth program and set it down in new vegas. That way no one will find us out and we can plant a few spies. As for the locals, we don't have to worry about them. They believe us to be demons and we stand in a world where magic exists. If the enemy is reasonable they will do one of two things. Take it face value or they will send down a scouting party and we get a few spies in the process."

I did see a hole. "The other factions have guns and we have guns. Sooner or later they will put two and two together."

"Again I have an elegant solution. Just act like demons. The ignorant human mind can be easily convinced of the supernatural, especially when it acts how it expects it too. So go out look scary, act scary and drag the odd sinner or two into hell. I mean aren't you the devil courier, so go out and damn some souls to oblivion."

I took in a deep breath and felt a bit at ease that we were ready. I'm just pissed I have to start carrying a pitchfork. God, why me.

He did have to wonder if they believe they were fighting demons, they must have been very cocky. And since they have lost, what are they thinking now

* * *

[Prison camp of the gate.]

Oh, fuck! Oh, Fuck! Oh, Fuck! He screwed up so bad! Now he is captured and he was probably going to be dragged into hell. OH by the gods! He's going to be a bitch for a big-ass demon! He doesn't want to become a bitch!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3- Steps are being taken

I did my fifth check on my recharger pistol on this vertibird ride and yet, I still feel like it's going to jam somehow. It was a deserved feeling, I was unable to perform any maintenance on it after the battle and I was pulled away from doing so. I got a message to get on the bird to extract an important target, from 101. That stopped me from looking after my weapons and now I'm a nervous wreck, sure it's still in perfect condition, but then again I don't like my odds. From what I was told, were expected to be in some heavy fighting.

"Hey courier what are we expecting to find in that village." It was Lucy the tribal girl. Her emerald greens seemed to glow in the dimly lit troop compartment.

"Right I did just grab you in the middle of training. Well, to get this out of the way first, we will be fighting deserters of the Roman dudes. I'm pretty sure you can have fun with that."

The young girl just gave me a wide smile, I did find it a bit off-putting, since we are going to be killing people and she is smiling about it. "We do have some VIPs though, so check your fire."

Her smile turned her professional neutral face. "What's their tell-tell sign."

We're trying to recruit some wizards n stuff. Our scouts marked them as a neutral party. I'm pretty sure you know not to shoot the pointy hat people."

"Actually I don't."

"What! Didn't you read the grognak comic."

"No one did six. Those are for little kids and those things don't count as information booklets."

"You guys don't appreciate quality literature. Speaking of quality. What you did to make our birds look like a demonic engine is top notch. The dark red, spikes, fire decal and impaled bodies, truly make me feel like damning some souls."

"Yeah thanks, I just looked deep into my soul and found this."

"I just stared at the girl. "That… That doesn't sound right."

"Your the guy who calls himself the devil."

"Actually that's a nickname the NCR gave. They found it fitting since I backed stabbed them and now everyone knows me as the devil of the waste. I just rolled with it."

"The fact that you also are the face of sin city doesn't hurt either huh."

Lucy looked outside and found out we are going a bit off the road. "This seems a bit out of the way to a village, aren't we going to a wizard town or something."

"I honestly don't know, all I do know is that wizards just wandered over here and then bandits attacked them. We're here to take out the washed down raiders and recruit the wizards. At that right Sargent?"

The man in the demonic M-03 power armor turned to address me. "Yup, in fact, the only reason we found them, is because one of those magic girls shot out a pretty hefty lighting bolt. What kind of beast required that kind of firepower, I don't know. I can guess that it did attract the attention of the deserter and those bastards got the drop on them."

"Let's hope they are not the kind to hurt prisoners. We do need them in a proper state of mind."

"Doubt it sir. If they have any women or hell pretty enough boy, they'll do what all raiders do."

I just nodded and planned to keep to myself. I never liked that part of reality, being an ex-slave gave me some good insight of what that was like. It was a long faded memory. I can thank the harsh wasteland and its way of desensitizing ways. I did notice that Lucy gripped the barrel of her bozar and My Sargeant noticed as well.

"Hey, don't worry, we might get there before the fighting is over, then we can teach them a lesson. Then afterward I could teach you a few lesson as well in private."

My head jerked up in lue of the information just dropped. "Dude! She like five and you're like a hundred. Plus what was about them still fighting."

"I'm eighteen next week, ass," Lucy said in the background.

"Right, we only gave you a quick summary. Well, the bandits did attack and they are still attacking. It's just that from what we can tell is that the wizards are safeish?"

"Those people erupted a… Forcefield I guess. The bandits are trying to break through, but the Wizards are holding strong, for now."

"What kind of numbers do these guys have, I mean they should be a pushover against people who can shoot out lightning bolts?"

"I don't understand the logic behind their bullshit powers boss, but I do know numbers have a quality of their own."

"How many?"

"A sec please, our scouts are still on the field and they can give us a head count."

The sarge just stood still. He didn't need to press any buttons or flex anything. Thanks to the neural interface, he can just mentally activate his radio. I felt a tug on my assassin suits sleeve. I turned and looked at Lucy. She leaned in and whispered.

"What do you think about these wizards. I mean, how powerful do think they are?"

"Well, I can only guess, but I think they can do quite a bit. In fact, I feel like they can turn the tide of a battle if a powerful one is present."

"That sounds scary. Holy crap what happens if we fight one! Or at least what happens when we fight a powerful one?"

"Again I don't know, that's why we are going out our way to get a few, hell if we're lucky we can learn a few spells."

Lucy just smiled at that. "Boy that would be neat, I love to spell chard flesh at the flick of my wrist."

Then one of my Jackal spoke up "Don't count on it, missy. Thanks to the courier's luck, We will be lucky to even understand magic."

She just looked at me. "Thanks a lot, ass."

"Don't blame me for being optimistic. When you know only bad things are going to happen, a cheery demeanor helps a ton."

"Courier." My Sargent said to get my attention. "Looks like fifteen wizards are being attacked by around two hundred bandits. It also looks like the magic force field is shattering, we have to double time it."

"Pilot get this bird moving." The vertibird shuttered and jerked us around for a split second. Then I turned to my Sargent once again.

"Did they finish loading up the retrofitted Securitrons?"

"They did sir. May I ask what kinds of upgrades you installed?"

"Well since we're fighting a horde of regular human without guns, I thought flamethrowers would be a good idea."

"Ha! Who needs magic when we have giant fire-spewing robots! Isn't that right Jackals!"

The Comms blew into life with bombastic responses from the Jackals. It was expected from them, they are my best and in turn, are thought of legends by the public. In fact there an entire section of the news radio entirely dedicated to them. I just waited to for the ride to be over. That didn't take long.

We came into view of the battlefield. A large dome of light was in the middle of a raging mob of bandits. I saw battlefield scaring around the area. Small creature filled with human bodies surround the mob. I also noted a few bodies that weren't burned, frozen or anything that resembled done by magic. Then I notice these were the dead bodies of wizards. The scouts must not have read their comics. Did no one bother? I mean why? It's a good comic, hell the demand for them was so great, that they started printing new issues. I just sighed and got ready. Before we got into drop rang I did notice the bodies did trail into the forest. I also notice that the mob of bandits didn't look like two hundred men. I turned my head and address my Sargent.

"Yo, what's up with the small group. Didn't the scouts say two hundred, that looks like around one hundred and trust me I've seen a mob of two hundred."

The man looked at me with his helmet still on. "I just got the report, my scout are telling me that a portion of the bandits moved into the forest."

"W-what! We can't bring our securitrons into that. They'll burn the entire forest down. Damn, we're gonna have to do this the old fashion way. Pilots, drop the burners in the mass of bandits and us, outside of the mass of men." The pilot just gave me his confirmation.

I got up and readied myself. As the doors open it revealed hundred of eyes looking at up. They looked of fear and despair. I didn't blame them. I would too if the monster at the gate came back to take your souls.

The bird made a clucking sound. I knew that they just dropped the upgraded securitrons, I watched in anticipation, wondering how effective these machines would do. I believed well, the old versions were ineffective against the unending numbers of the tunnelers and their claws. So I made a few modifications to improve their effectiveness. Now that they face but mere mortal, I had high hopes for them.

I securitrons didn't have any impact absorption servers in them, they just weren't made for that. Instead, we made a special drop platform for them. It was just a metal plate with plenty of springs, the only reason I bring that up is that we just dropped four of them on top of fleshy men. When the first securitron made impact it did so with a crush. Blood splattered everywhere, coating the men standing next to the impact. I don't know how many that killed, but I think I estimate four or three each. I smiled at the thought that we have already killed then percent of the enemy force.

Then the machine opens fire. Gouts of fire sprouted from the arm mounted heavy flamethrowers. They sprayed their liquid fire at a sixty-meter range and since the men were tightly clustered together, they opening seconds was… predictable. The things lit dozens of men on fire, killing the massive group advantage of numbers in a matter of seconds.

The machines didn't stop. Bandits were still alive and they still had fuel in their tanks. The machines lumbered forwards, continuously spraying fuel into crowds of men. The entire sight was terrifying to watch, burnt bodies littered the floor and the screams of men filled the air.

The mages from the sphere watched the entire battle go down. Each one of them wide eye at the destructive power of these lumber cyclops. They raise their heads to see the metal beast that unleashed these monstrous fire spewing demons and saw men. At least what they thought were men. They were clad in plated armor, each one of them looking as if they were demonic knights. They feared what they wanted or what they were going to do. They certainly weren't capable of fighting them. They have exhausted their reservoirs of mana. One of them, a female clade in plated armor did. They had to get to the site before those outlaws did so before them.

I walked to the edge and picked up a microphone, then I started to speak the native language. "Wizards. We are not your enemy. We are here to aid you and speak to you. We have interest in forming a deal with you."

I said that as the securitrons sprayed liquid death at the scattering bandits. I understood if they were a bit hesitant. I turned to my Sargeant and asked him a question.

"Do you know how to speak the native language."

"I took my mentats and learned it in record time."

"Good, then I'll leave it to you get them to trust us. You're better with people anyway. Just make sure that they know we're not demons and we can compensate them quite generously."

"If your going into the forest then take my scouts, they can keep up with you in the forest, I'll stay here and talk, might take out a straggler or two."

Then he pauses for a sec and then turned his head to the battlefield. I did too to see what was happening. The magical spell that kept the dome up now was gone. The wizards were now breaking off from the combat zone and into the forest. At the direction of the second horde ran off to.

"What the hell are they doing! They must not have believed our little message. Can't blame them." My sergeant said in an annoyed voice.

I thought about it for a moment. It did make sense, but there could be another reason. There was a lot of unanswered questions. Why were they here, why did they unleash a massive blast, why are the bandits running into the forest, and why are the wizards following them. They could see the forest as good cover and the bandits preferable to fighting us. Maybe, but my instincts are telling me otherwise.

"Sarge, drop us off near the forest. We're going to see what's so special about it."

As the landing gear made contact with the ground, I jumped off the carrier. I saw the scouts near the wooded area, waiting for my arrival. They had lightweight combat gear with its leather component replace with a ballistic weave vest. They were armed with assault carbines and marksmen carbines, making these troops vastly better-equipped force than any NCR trooper. They stood in action and I was a bit annoyed at their passive waiting. I just ran past them and moving into the forest. They seem dumbfounded but just followed my lead.

Lucy and the scouts moved quickly, barely able to keep up with me, the Jackal, on the other hand, were obstructed by their heavier armor. It wasn't because they were slowed down by its weight, instead the weight made them sink into the mud, or branches broke under their feet, throwing them off balance. It considerably slowing them down, so I just kept running ahead, I honestly didn't know how well this wizard will fare after that trying fight. Then I saw it. One of my jackal's blitz through the densely wooded area. I heard a rev of a miniature engine, I saw him blur past me and he moved forward.

"Sarge, who in the hell was that!"

"That was rookie, our newest member. The trooper is a speed demon."

"How in the hell is rookie moving like that!?"

"His power armor has very light plating, with a combination of extra dense fiber muscles and he's using a personally crafted chain machete, to clear his way. Just let the rookie move, any bandit will be easily handled."

I heard gunfire, then flashes in the depths of the woods. "Does the rookie use ballistic weapons?"

"Nope"

"Are the green troopers nearby?"

"Don't know, but you can find out and don't worry about rookie, nothing surprise the Desert Jackals."

I just ran, avoiding any foliage in my way. The flashes started to intensify, the shot sounded erratic. A few of them were zipping my way. I avoided them, but the shot pattern was too unpredictable and a bullet nicked my shoulder. My regenerative nanobots quickly patched it up. I stopped when I came to a clearing. My eyes widen at the sight. It wasn't the green men firing rounds out, it was the bandits.

I don't know where they grabbed the guns, I sure they did so not long ago. They are completely undisciplined using them I noted that a few didn't seem to know what to do when they run out of ammo, they just drop the rifle and run in with a sword. I did see a few of them had the good sense, to bring a bandoleer of extra mags. I saw who they were fighting. The wizards were throwing a few orbs of light, that devastated any man caught in the crossfire, but they were losing. The men were either rushing them with swords or being fired at the more disciplined bandits. I even found a couple of robed corpse lying around.

Then in a flash of light, I saw a knight or at least what I think is a knight. The plate armor was covered head to toe in glowing runes, her sword seems to look like a glowing crystal. The warrior almost seems magical and to think of it we never seen one of them use melee. I just watched and ordered the rest to do so. The small woman moved at incredible speed. She stopped in front of one of the sword-wielding men of attackers and he readied to deflect any incoming blow. The knight just did a downward slash and it bisected the man from shoulder to hip.

Then the mystical warrior raised a hand and intercepted a burst of gunfire. I did note that her magic force field seems to strain under the impact. The woman didn't relent and kept moving forward. A move that seems appropriate for a knight, but foolish in a gunfight. She jumped into the nearest group of bandits and started slicing and tearing, anyone in front of her. She moved so fast she seems to blur, her movement barely recorded by the human eye. She only stopped when her glowing aura dimed. For a split second, she slowed down and a hail of bullets rained down on her. The devastating firepower punched through her magic barrier and ripped through her armor. The girl fell backward, crimson red spraying from her wound.

The other seems to look at distraught at her defeat. One of them even tried to and help her but he was cut down by one of the swordsmen. The enemy moved forward intent to move in and finish the fight. I saw the woman start getting up and a planned pop in my head.

"Alright, Lucy moves in with the scouts and take out the bandit, I'm going in to get a bargaining card."

"Don't shoot the pointy heads."

Almost out of nowhere the rookie burst through foliage and revved his chain machete. The Desert Jackal didn't waste any time, burying his chain machete into the first chest in front of the warrior. The weapon roared with its engines, ripping through muscle and tearing apart bone. The bandits unloaded what remains in their chip towards the Jackal. Rookie reacted, the warrior used the powerful servers in the power armors legs and lept. The rookie made three meters of air, then I saw the soldier throw something. The bandits in the back soon became engulfed in a green energy. Their silhouettes in the light started to melt and malformed. The men holding swords didn't stop charging instead they picked up the pace, attempting to kill their attacker.

They didn't get the chance as my scouts open fire with automatic carbines. The rounds punched any form of armor the men wore and easily killed them in droves. The last remaining few bandits just ran deeper into the forest. They could run all they want, I don't care. What I am looking for is right in front of me. Within the chaos of the battle, I was able to get to the knight and inject her with a stimpack. The bullet fragments were just pushed out by the regenerating flesh. In a few second the wound would be completely healed.

"No-o, We mustn't let them… I, I, must go." The female knight said with a barely audible voice.

What was this woman going on about, she was dying. What in the hell is so import, that it warrants killing herself? The Leafs started to Russell and the rest of my jackals arrived. When I turned my head to address the sergeant, the woman in my arms started to struggle. She was using the last of her strength to crawl toward the fleeing bandits.

"I must. Stop them. It is of great importance. Nothing will stop me. From saving me. King." I just placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey slow down, if whatever your defending is that important, Then let me get it. Trust me I'm a courier, it's my job."

"Jackals! Make sure our guest are comfortable. Scouts, Lucy. you're with me." I tried moving but a hand grabbed my leg.

I saw it was the knight. "I cannot let you, I don't know who you are."

I just gave an exhausted sigh. "Look, lady, you don't have a choice. Now let me get to the bandits before they get away." Her hand loosened and I wasted no time in chasing the men down.

Nature swallowed me and my team up. We rushed through the trees, attempting to catch up with our targets. I'm not doing it because I'm a nice guy, oh not at all. It just clicked for me. Those fuckers never held a gun in their life. Neither were they made here. I have a theory about what happened. The empire must have fucked with the green dude and now they are both at war. Then they must have sent wizards to attack the green men.

Now they just want to take the factions weapons and… study them? Or maybe use them. Well at least that what I think. For all, I know these pointy hat wearing nerds could just be doing this out of spite. In the end, it would explain the weapons. I just kept running until I saw another clearing. I turned to go around a tree and my instincts started screaming.

As I made it to the clearing I saw three Humvees. One of them was completely sheared in half. The other two just had holes in the driver's compartment. Around a dozen, bodies could be seen. Each one wearing the green body armor of the other faction. Their weapons were stripped along with their ammo. I then saw what was on top of the humvees. One of the bandits was on top of the vehicles and he was mounting what looked like a 50 cal. machine gun. Time seems to slow down and I was watching everything in slow motion. The started to aim towards me.

I responded by turning my body, to decrease my silhouette. The man knew how to work the gun and understood that he needed to pull the trigger. Heavy caliber rounds zipped around me, each one dangerously close to hitting me. Then one of them did. It wasn't a direct hit. The round hit the side of my stomach. It hit the edge of my flesh, easily rip apart my armor. The round moved forward, not slowing down by my suit and started disemboweling me. The massive round finished its job as it impacted the ground.

My Pip-boy started sending signal to my brain and I saw the world halt in time. Everything was completely still. I was able to see better the battleground around me. My scouts were firing upon swordsmen bandits, it seems they laid a trap for us. Lucy, on the other hand, was in front and center, pouncing on bandits and plunging a knife into his neck.

My hand was already wrapped around the recharger pistols handle. My vats gave me the results. I had an eighty-seven percent chance on the man's head. Dumped all of my vats on that target. I shot six times. The pip-boy took over and I brought my pistol to bear. The first shot missed, no worries I still have five left. Then the second missed, then the third, then the fourth, and the fifth. Every Time I saw the bolt of compressed light missed the head, my soul shattered a little. That was until my sixth hit. The bolt did minimal damage. All the bolt did be give the guy a second-degree burn and since he was pumped full of adrenaline, he did feel it at all.

The Pip-boy released its grip on me and I could move once again. I was finally able to feel a skull-splitting headache from the bullshit I just witnessed. I started to fall forward, my body unable to support my legs, as it was frantically repairing my open gut. The Nanobot in my bloodstream was able to stop the bleeding, but I could feel my guts to leak out. I had to kill the gunner or he'll finish me off.

I took aim and trusted my instincts and fired. The bolt hit the man right in the eye. Within a nanosecond, the water in his head was quickly superheated and spontaneously turned into vapor. The gas quickly built up in his skull and the pressure soon stretched the skin to its limits. In a cloud of red mist, the gunners head exploded, leaving the body headless.

I fell forward and I finally met the ground. I slipped myself to my back and Tried my best to keep my guts inside of me. The chemicals being pumped out of my artificial heart and nanobots doing their damnedest to repair the damage quickly. The adrenaline started to fade and the pain became unbearable. I tried my hardest to not scream, but it was overwhelming. I roared as my body had slowly started closing the wound.

Nearby bandits started to notice me writhing in pain and moved to finish me off. They were split into a group of two by the Humvee in front of me and I started to hear the barking of the bozar. It's rounded chewing through most of the men, but two of them made it through. My Artificial spine activated and released morphine-like chemicals into my bloodstream. The effect was immediate.

I raised myself to my knees, my intestines shifting themselves in my body as I did so. I brought up my pistol and aimed. I squeezed the trigger and I heard an unhealthy noise for the gun. I realized that the pistol malfunction and it would need a few seconds to reboot. My eye twitched and in a fit of rage, threw the gun towards the bandits. He just slashed it out of the air, as I drew dinner bell. The shotgun was already loaded with buckshot as I shouldered it. I squeezed the trigger and let loose three rounds of hot lead. I saw the metal make short work of the first man and at the same time, I felt my guts push themselves out of my still healing wound.

I fell backward and saw a single rope of gut move out of my stomach. My eyes widen as I couldn't keep myself kneeling and I started falling backward. I also saw the second bandits get bit close. As I felt my back hit the ground and my vision going dark, I saw him raise his short sword. He threw it down towards me, but midway through he was tackled by a small tribal looking girl. I could hear anymore as I saw here stab the man multiple times. When she was done, quickly moved towards me and plunged a needle into me. The last thing I felt before I passed out was cold hands on my intestine.

* * *

[West forest from the second gate.]

Sargent Sato was in awe. His twelfth recon team was sent out to survey the area. They were told that a force of enemies was moved here and that they spotted some of the magical units of their mists. It was up to them to find and confirm this. It was necessary for them too. During the battle of the gate, the only unit that causes any casualties was the enemy mages. Taking out them out first was of utmost importance. He was a proud man to take the job as well, he doesn't want any of his fellow comrades to die by a stray lightning bolt. He was ready to do anything to help his country, so when he saw a second gate pouring out a second army, he didn't know what to do.

There weren't any protocols for this. He didn't even know if these people are a threat or just defending themselves, just like themselves. He didn't even know how dangerous these people are. He knows that they have weapons just like theirs, but they looked strange. He saw tanks with twin linked main cannons, but he doesn't know how effective that is. He saw twin bladed helicopters, but he didn't know if they have any weapons.

He saw people in combat gear and ragged clothes, be he didn't know if they are just civilians or soldiers in their rest uniforms. Everything about their structure was just alien to him. Maybe it is because the people they are looking at are not from earth at all. Their gate sent them to an alternate reality, maybe the people from this gate is from a different earth. It could be many things, but he couldn't make the decision on his own. He had to inform the high ups in the JSDF.

He turned to his squad and signaled to them to be ready for anything. He placed his hand on his earpiece and only heard static. He raises an eyebrow. Maybe they were they are too far away. He reached for his radio and checked it. Again static. He felt nervous. He didn't know if it was just faulty gear or the second gate inhabitants are doing this. He just turned to his teammate and whispered.

"Are your radios give you static as well?"

He got a hails of yes and he felt a cold sweat. This can't just be faulty gear. They are being jammed and they needed to move. He gave the signal to fall back and shuffled back to their transport. As they did, an unnoticed clocked eye bot followed them. It used a laser point communication device to break through its own jamming signal and alert 101.

She was on already on alert when she got the message. She boarded the stealth alien ship, she brought from mothership zeta. It was the only one fast and stealthy enough to get the drop on the green men. Her squad of personal bodyguards was already boarding the ship when she got there, a proud smile was plastered on her face, at the efficacy of her men. The engines of the ship barely made a sound when it powered up. They didn't even feel the change in the inertia as it moved. They didn't even get a chance to get comfortable as the ship was already at its target. The double doors opened up to reveal a lush forest.

Five armored figures jumped off the ramp and into the forest. They fell at terminal velocity as they sailed downwards. Each one of them has a compliance regulator equipped. They crashed down onto the ground with thunderous booms.

Each one of them got into their battle stances as their leader in the light rig of power armor descended in a pillar of fire. Slowing her decent and creating a lighter landing. She looked around and saw no trooper. It was expected, of course, their green uniform would be perfect camouflage. Instead, they activate their hud targeting systems. They saw eight outlines crouching with their rifle in hand.

Her team of five including her moved forward. Their footsteps too heavy to make stealthy. They kept moving forward until they started a few of the outlines shivering. She raised an eyebrow at that. Are they nervous, or are they jittery? She has no knowledge of how these people operated. These men could be shaking for a dozen reasons. They might be hoped on chems, they might not understand they are wearing power armor and think them monsters.

They could be bloodthirsty and are impatient for a fight. These could be boys, no older than fourteen and are scared for their first fight. Or least likely of all, these could just be soldiers just unused to combat, they are afraid of dying. There can be a dozen other reason, but it didn't matter did it. All that does matter is getting these men into their gate, so they can be prepared. They were so close by now, that the enemy could probably feel the ground shaking. The men in green jumped out of their position and started screaming.

The language was weird. It kinda reminded 101 of mandarin, from all the Chinese stealth books she read, but it was different. I saw them aim their gun and it definitely didn't look Chinese. In fact, it reminded her more of the American assault rifle. Maybe these guys are from a universe where the position where reverse and America was the red menace and China democratic. It would be funny to see, but for now, these guys are annoying.

"Alright, if you guys understand me, put your guns down and hand behind your head!"

Now they had their rifles aimed at her. This will most likely not end peacefully. At least they were prepared to take prisoners, so it wasn't like it matted. One of her knight in the heavy rig power took a powerful step forward. Raising his pistol at the men. One of the younger looking ones seem to have panicked and started unloading his entire clip into the knight. His friends joined him and opened fire.

The rounds only bounced off the thickly plated armor. We just stood there for a few second until their guns went dry. They seem dumbfounded at the sight. I couldn't blame them, not even AP rounds could break through the heavy rigs. The things are so heavily armored, it makes a six-foot tall man into a seven-foot tall man. Hell, people say that the heavy rigs should be counted as power and more as rideable robots. She just shrugged at the thought and aimed her stun gun.

Her knights followed her example and aimed the guns. The green men just started running and reloaded their guns. Before they had the chance to finish they were assaulted by a hail of blue bolt. Each of them hit a man, it froze them still, making them unable to move. It only took a few seconds to get every one of them. My knight moved quickly to secure the target before they can start moving again. Each knight moved on top of two men each, pressing their weight on them and securing them with cuffs. I smiled at the efficacy of my men.

"Alright. Let's get them on the dropship and tell 111 he has his first customers.

* * *

[The Mojave desert]

Sargent Sato had no idea what has happened to his men or him. They hid from the incoming bogey, but they ended finding him them anyways and somehow stun them. They were soon found out they were cuffed. He did get to see the camp of the second gate and was confused. It seems that these guys are both military and held settlers. He saw the noncombatants set up. What looked like farms and stores.

It was useful information if they could return. They were soon brought into the gate and found a military station. Dozens of armed guards were meaning pre-built walls and saw hundreds of turrets aiming at the outside of the wall. It seems they are ready to keep anyone they don't want outside. He thought he would be able to make a run for it. Even if he could he would leave his men. He just gritted his teeth and hoped these guys are not barbarians.

When he was pushed onto an APC he was able to get a glimpse of the outside. It was just a massive desert, kilometers upon of kilometer. The worst part is that as soon he gets into this heap of junk, he will not be able to track his way back if they find a way to escape. He just leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. When he opened them up again he was pushed out and into a beautiful city of lights.

Dozens of guards could be seen aiming their strange gun at us. They lead us into a room with a round metal thing in the middle of it. They pushed us on it and aimed their guns at us to stay put. We did and after a few seconds of standing around a blue light engulfed us. In one moment we were in the room full of men with gun and the second we were in a completely white room. I honestly have no idea what happens. I just stood there with my teammates, wondering what happen. Then green gas started to rise from the ground. The guys started screaming in panic. Are they killing us, by going us!? I just took off my shirt and wrapped it around my face. The team did as well. It kept coming and we stayed there for awhile. Then the room was nothing but green gas and I feel into the world of the sleeping.

* * *

[Institute base]

111 Stood in the lab, his assistance preparing the equipment. It has been a while since the synth manufacturing station has been used. Ever since he his marines stormed the base and secured it for ourselves, we shut down all risky projects. The waste was already killing itself with plenty of moron, it didn't require more. Everyone around him seemed to not understand what planning means, or they just lacked foresight.

Either way, they were lucky they were given him. He understood what the wasteland needed to recover. They needed a leader, not science, or goodwill, or even a bleeding heart group. Truly the railroad are the biggest problem of the waste. Their ideas were remarkably short-sighted. He only ever worked with them to gain all of their secrets and when he was done, he let his marines clear them out. Now the old commonwealth was dead and a new civilized people were born. He eliminates hunger, raiders and regained the entire city. The number of birth rates is starting to look like they are rising and he had allies, of a sort. The wasteland will finally disappear and a new and better America will be born.

For now, he had to secure their future. They got their first batch and they needed to work fast, or the other faction will discover them. He estimated that they have two hours to scan the memories and install them into the new synth bodies. He heard a door swish open and he saw a group of men being carried by his marines.

"Good to see you gentlemen, are these the subjects?"

"Yup, they are primed and ready to be turned into robots."

"They are called synths gentlemen, please use the proper terms."

"Right, do we place them in those chairs over there?"

"Yes, and please strap them in properly, they might get a bit restless."

"Got it, sir… aaaand there we go. All nice and cozy." Then men just stood around the room prepared to intervene at moments notice if something goes wrong.

"Alright, gentlemen let's get to work and give our boys in the other reality a hand. Tabatha activates the machine."

"Yes sir, right away sir." The woman hurried to her counsel and activated the first consul. The memories pods went to work and started to scan the men's minds. He would make sure to extract any important information and give it to his alley, for a price of course. They would need his help and he would give it, but his nation came first. She saw the machine do its magic. He moved toward the next station and moved to the synth construction room.

* * *

[Beyond the second gate]

Sargent Sato sat in his Humvee with his team. The entire scouting run was completely uneventful. They only a large migration of native wildlife. He had already radioed it into high command. Man, that was a bust, he was hoping to a least find something other than dumb animals. Oh well, at least nothing terrible happens. He would hate to bring bad news or any terrible new of a loss of life. Still, he felt a bit an odd feeling deep in his chest. He doesn't know what though? That's right! The game is on tonight and he asked his wife to send the video. Man, that was a load off his chest. He smiled about finally going back home and see his kids faces again.

* * *

[second gate base]

101 stood there proud of how the entire thing went off without a hitch. Now the double agent is planted and they got some valuable information. If they are able to recruit those wizard, they might be able to get the drop on this magic thing. People even say they are able to learn to shoot energy balls. Now that is an entertaining idea. Then I heard somebody running up to me.

"Elder! We got news. We were able to recruit those wizards, but 6 is has been injured."

"Is he dying?"

"They only told me to prep the auto-doc and to tell you."

"Well tell me if he's going to be a while. I'm going to need him in tomorrow's scouting run"

"Ma'am he's been disemboweled."

"So. He's always been quick to heal. Hell, I've seen him lose a chunk of his leg and he was up and kicking the next day. Even better, before he got his implants he got shot in the head, twice and survived that. That's man won't die, in fact, I expect him to rub it in."

The soldier was just dumbfounded.


	4. Chapter 4

**I can't seem to be able to get the line break thing down, even if the instructions are on the bottom right.**

Chapter 4- Meeting the Locals

The courier's eyes fluttered open to see a bright light. A sense of relief fell on him. Years of killing and beating made him feel lost. For the longest time, he believes that the day he died, he would face the brimstone fires of hell.

Then he saw a beautiful face of an angle. I reached my hand to touch the divine face. It was weird. It wasn't he expected and he felt normal. A young voice greeted him.

"Get your hand off my face, ass."

I was broken out of my stupor when my vision cleared. I saw the face of the tribal woman, Lucy. She almost seems tired. Bags could be seen under her eyes and a couple of cups of coffee littered the table. The woman was at his side the whole time. Huh, that's nice of her.

"Ah sorry, I thought I was in heaven."

Lucy just raises an eyebrow. "Wasn't the fact you were in heaven and not hell was a tip-off."

Now we're back to mean. "Well, thank you."

Again, Lucy raised an eyebrow. "About what?"

"For staying by my side. That was nice of you."

The girl just slightly smiled at the sentence. "A lot of people were busy, I just made sure you were properly taken care of. Now let's get you ready. 101 is bitching at me to get you combat ready."

I just widened my eyes at the women's sheer tenacity. "Isn't a hole in my stomach, warrant me some bed rest?"

"In her own words, she said. If that fappy, son of a bitch wants to brag about his implants, then he should put metal into those words. Now get that lazy, shit grinning, asshole on his feet. He should be fine by now."

"Well if she uses her silver tongue anymore, I might fall in love. Now, where's my gear."

Lucy's face just did something I can't explain. It's best resembles a guilty dog, desperately trying to hide the fact it ate your shoes. "What happens to my gear," I said in a serious tone.

The girl relented. "Your recharger pistol got critically damaged when the bandit hit it with his sword. Its important part is damaged beyond repair. Worse yet, is that we don't have the guns in stock. Your armor was cut off for medical purposes. Now it is also unusable."

I gave a blank stare. My gun was something I found necessary to travel. Ammo was rare to find and most guns are a pain to maintain. I didn't need power as I always preferred to go for vulnerable spots. I can always get something else. My suit, on the other hand, was a one of a kind. Now it was destroyed in an attempt to save my life. I was a bit angry at that. I could have just healed on my own, they didn't need to rip it off me and for what, to get to an already healing wound.

I relented on the thought. "Lucy please bring me my suitcase. I know It's out of your way, but I feel like a moment for myself. This would be a perfect time to kill two birds with one stone." I said in an uncomfortable clam tone.

Lucy just nodded her head in rapid succession. She got up and quickly walked out of the room. As soon she closes the door, she heard furniture become overturned and glass being smashed. The jackal has told her that the man loved his gear, to the point where he was a hoarder. His hoarding love was so great, that they made sure the room was emptied when they place him in it.

* * *

She just walked to the barracks and into the courier's room. She did as hastily as possible as well. The man was completely livid. Any delays in his equipment might anger him further.

As Lucy walked, she ran into the knight from last night. She was out of her rune armor and had most of her wounds healed overnight, thanks to the healing properties of stimpacks. Her face when greeting the tribal girls was one of contempt. During her moments of consciousness, she was very vocal about her color opinions of us. When we explained we could work together, she became more diplomatic. Not by much, just enough to let her walk around.

"Greeting barbaric woman. I have heard that your leader who saved me and the artifact, has awakened, I wish to talk to him." The magical knight seems to spit the sentence out with a level malice.

Lucy just responded back with a bit more self-control. "Oh yes, Just follow me. I do have to warn you, he's a bit cranky."

"If your leader acts like a child, then I recommend finding a new one."

"I would if I could, but this guy is a bit scary." At the very same time, Lucy said that she opened a door. Revealing a courier punching a hole through a sheet an aluminum wall.

My hand was killing me. But losing something so rare and irreplaceable, when I go out of my way to maintain my items bothers the hell out of me. It's a mindset drilled into every survivor in the waste and I lived by that code. That we never waste or lose any items if we can help it. I shouldn't have been cocky, I shouldn't think that ever bandit was a moron. I should have expected that these people are adaptable, like any other human. I then turn to see the surprised faces of my companion and that one knight girl. I straighten up and pretend that nothing happened.

"Hello, welcome to the medical room."

The knight was the first to talk. "My name is Astral Lunar, a mana blade of the emperor. I have come to thank your help and your err, 'sacrifice' in ensuring that my mission is completed."

I had to ask. "Alright, what was your mission."

She just swallowed in barely contained fury. "Since you have saved me and my mission and not asked anything in return, I'll shall answer. My emperor sent me to probe the weakness and learn how to use their powers. I was able to learn the first. They have on defense against magic, at least no defense greater than their iron beast. This made me hire some mage's mercenary's to deal with them. I was a bit irked when you decided to hire them, but their contract did expire with me. I was already informed that That was the second part of my mission. To learn where they find these creatures and how to tame them."

"I can answer that," I said with a near undetectable cocky tone.

"Then answer me! How!" I smiled at that, I can get something out of this.

"Well, it's quite simple. Their iron beast is feats of engineering. The beast as you call them are just machines, with no emotion or loyalties."

"Then these foreign force can make an unlimited number of this thing!"

"Well, I wouldn't say that. It takes training, unique resources and knowledge to build and use them. Which I pray tell, have all three at my disposal. We can help you, but oh no, were at war with one another. I mean you can go out and tell your emperor about a potential alliance where we can cast out this ruthless enemy."

Her eyes lit up and had an aura of hope surround her. "You can. Can you? Well, this is something I must bring up to my emperor. If you sense of this alliance, then I can see out people helping one another, but you did ruthlessly slaughter our men!"

"I must say that due to our home. It's completely harsh and more of your men died to our land, then by our own weapons. As for the second battle, we were just impressed by your warrior's dedication, that we came at you with everything we had. Sparing no one from such a skilled army was the only way we could survive."

Her posture turns from one of caution to one of confidence. I continued my negotiation. "In fact, it did enter this alliance our two empires could end up strengthening each other. The detail could be negotiated later, by far more qualified people."

Her confident posture didn't change, in fact, it seems to become more prominent on her. "I see, I'll be sure to bring this up to my emperor. I must make haste, I cannot afford to waste any more time. So I wish you well." She turned her back to leave.

As her back was I gave the biggest malice filled smile, my pace was capable of producing. I laid the groundwork to make this whole area a puppet empire. I don't have to make the talks instead, my brother would most likely be able to talk these people into a corner.

With him, we could turn this entire desperate scramble to conquer another land turn it into a simple clearing up mission. Everything was paved for this groundwork. A primitive society that we can easily take advantage of, an enemy army that doesn't know they exist yet and has a gate they can target, and a possible future monopoly in technology, that everyone and their grandmothers would want. Oh boy, his brother will love him for this.

I looked at Lucy with the massive grin on my face. Her reaction looks like she found herself in a deathclaw nest with raw meat hanging from her neck. The door fully closed and I walked to her and grabbed the locker in her arms. "Thank you."

Now that she's gained some courage she asked me what was on her mind. "Okay, what the hell is going on."

"Well, the short of it is that I planted the first seeds of a future, abusive relationship where we can explore the hell out of these people.

"Huh, that's why you're in a mood?"

"Hell to the yeah, now let's get me geared up and off to whatever hellhole Vauban agreed, to send me to."

* * *

[2nd Gate's hanger]

I walked into the vehicle deport with my courier's duster and Maria on my hip. The outfit was outright a well rounded traveling duster. It had some mild protection, with extra pouches and comfortable gear. The pistol used the all too common and light 9mm rounds, I had enough bullets in this pistol to headshot a Legion camp. Her slung Dinner bell onto his back, the shotgun gave him so much flexible firepower, he'll never be stuck in a situation where he won't have shell right for the job. His last piece of traveling weaponry was his heaviest. He had it covered in a blanket to protect it from the environment and plenty of overcharged micro fusion cells to decapitate the statue of liberty. It was is trusty YCS/186, the gauss rifle to end all gauss rifle and an excellent monster slayer. He brought it with him just in case a fantasy monster, or a hostile tank came across them.

He stopped in front a wheeled scout vehicle. It was a four-seater, well a five-seater if you counted the tri-barreled minigun strapped onto the back. The vehicle in question was a factory built pick up truck. It was pretty much what a scouting tuck would look like. Large wheels, elevated platform, enough armor to block your average rounds, but not enough to drastically slow it down. And form the front of it was the grease up ass of the jumpsuit that held my favorite ghoul.

The radiated man was inside the engine, working on the fusion reactor technology, that had saved civilization. I walked over the man without alerting him and saw that he was just finishing with the fusion core that powered the vehicle. With an audible click, the man crawled out of the compartment and turned to me. His face was covered with a form-fitting mask with a tinted visor.

"You know, I'm old but not old enough to not notice the nice shade that suddenly appeared out of nowhere." His voice came muffled.

"Why in the hell are you covering up your face old man. I mean, I'm not complaining, it's definitely an improvement, but I thought you liked making people go on a spontaneous diet."

"The locals don't know what ghouls are and tend to scream bloody murder. It makes sense boss, there are no rads here to cook them into a handsome fellow like myself. It also helps that zombies and necromancer exist."

"Aren't we trying to look all demonic and evil. Having a radiated face would definitely help."

"Not when we are trying to talk to them and that's what you guys are going to do."

"Huh, okay. Then where's the scout team."

"Well, I'm one of them. Rookie and ED-E are coming as well."

"Really I love that guy!"

"Did the Rookie rally make that big of an impression."

"What no. I mean ED-E. He's my favorite robotic brother from a different mother. Well assembly line to be precise. The rookie is just another grunt to me. Until he does something I like, I won't care. I assume Lucy is coming with us as well?"

"That's... a bit cold."

"I've seen a thousand like him, her? Huh. I have no idea what rookie is?"

"Well, you can ask when rookie gets here. Now I'm gonna get on this beauty and you're not going to touch a thing."

"Fine, now let's get going I'm going to take a nap while on shotgun. Wake me if we get attack by the green guys. If it's any more people who are stuck in the medieval age, then don't bother and use the big ass gun on the back." As I claimed into the passenger seat, I decided to give a once over on the area.

Machines we bought were already digging out deposits of ore. The fertile land already had multiple farms, yielding massive amounts of healthy, radiation-free crops. The prefabricated buildings are already housing the commonwealth settlers. A fission generator is being set up, so we can have immediate access to a power source and we can finally set up a teleporter. I'm already seeing away team returning. I wonder how many of them were successful in recruiting villages and how many had to terrorize the poor folk. Either way, it might take a few weeks before we are ready to face the other faction.

I had to wonder what they are doing. What kind of people they are. What do they what with this land? I've heard from a few people we passed by, that we already replace a team of them with synths. I have to admit, regardless of the advantage that technology can bring, I still feel wrong using it. Still, the way they are industrialized and are organized, they must be a dedicated disciplined bunch.

* * *

[Coda Village]-A week later

Lt. Itamae let out another discrete Yahn. He stayed up way too late binge-watching the entire season of Haemonculus Loss. He spent most the day reading and writing reports for his superiors, so he had no choice but to do it. Hell, the whole point of having this job was to support his hobby. If he ever got sidetrack from his passion, then he'd had to rethink his place of employment.

He just lifted another chest of the residents of the settlers and carried to his cart. When he looked up, he saw the faces of the parents and daughter smiling at him. He just gave the odd wave and smirk.

He stretched his tried back and moved to the next pair the looked like they needed help. He noticed a blue haired girl eyeing him. When he waved she just shied away. He gave a shrug and moved on.

Man was he tired. He didn't think that they would be helping move the residents of the village. Ever since they notice that the flame dragon change directions, he was hoping to get back to base and enjoy some R&R. Then he saw the Empires soldiers burning and destroying villages left and right. He assumes they are using scorched earth tactics. When he saw them heading this direction, he had to go back and save these people.

He also noted something weird. When he knew his team had been spotted by the enemy, they didn't run. In fact, They seemed to move in a different direction. Almost as if they wanted to lead them somewhere. He obviously knew it was a trap, but when he received a report, it said that there were no Empire soldiers of any considerable size.

If something comes to push, we can shove them right back. The muscle of the team, Kuribayashi Sergeant first class, was eyeing him something fierce. "Could at least act like a leader, standing around and having that dumb look on your face, is embarrassing to the JSDF." The woman pointed out to her superior officer.

"Look, Kuribayashi was no in a hurry. Those empire guys are not going to get here for another day or so and were almost packed up."

"Yeah, well you could at least show that you're a soldier. Your slouching and brain dead look isn't making us look good."

"I find that being laid back make me more approachable. Were escorting civilians and not prisoners. Anyways, isn't lecture a superior officer make us look undisciplined."

Her annoyed face was replaced with a flabbergasted one. "I'm uh. Right sir. I'll continue my work."

Itami just smiled that he was able to make up an excuse on the spot. He just walked to the crowd until he found his team medic Kurokawa. She was talking to a few villagers. They nodded their heads and walked away. I went ahead and gave a nod.

"Hey Kurokawa, Please tell me we're almost done. I feel my back is going to snap in half."

The Combat medic just smiled. "Luckily I was just told that the last villager finished. We should be able to move on to the base."

"Great, then let's get loaded up and get moving."

"Sir, yes sir," The medic said with a cheery demeanor."

After a few minutes of getting in our vehicles, we started ourselves in and with a jolt. The humvees moved. A soft head of hair landed on my shoulder. I looked down and saw my spontaneously adopted elf Daughter Tuka. It was a little while ago, when they first spotted the flame dragon, was when they found her. Her village was completely burned down and found no other survivors but her. The event was so traumatic, that she believes that I'm her father. Ever since I just played along.

The girl shifted in her seat and continued to sleep.

Itame Just didn't know what to do with this girl. He spoke to the base psychologist and all she told him was to be supportive. Man, he wasn't ready to be a father. Well, they as well be off. They don't want to be caught in another Empire scheme.

* * *

[Empire Capital]

His daughter was kneeling in front of him, begging him to send her to her death. She thought that her Rose knight can do anything, against enemies that destroyed their armies without taking with any losses of their own. She will be forced to see an unforgiving truth. He has already sent the vassal Armies to deal with them. Even if they fail, he won't need to worry about a war on a third front. If the thousands of soldier being sent can't, then her daughter's mear knights won't do a thing. That doesn't mean he hasn't prepared a course of action. Spies and scouts noted that the two armies have yet met one another.

This came from a knight that held magical powers. He was told everything he needed to know. He could get one of the other armies to help him win this war and gain great new machinations. A deal he knew was too great to be that simple. The 2nd gate people knew that they had all the leverage, they could ask anything of him and he would need to comply. In order to be able to negotiate, he would need to even the grounds. If the green men were to attack the demon men, then he could get them to be far more late in their demands.

"Father! Please. Let my order spearhead assaults on the enemy. Let us fight."

He saw his daughter beg to die in front of him. Well if she wants to see battle, then he'll let her. "I see I assume your knights are more capable to study our enemies tactics."

Her daughter's face brightens up at the news. "Y-yes my Father, I will not fail."

"I'm sure you won't"

He just sat there, wondering if the would fight against one another. He closed his eyes and hoped everything falls into place.

* * *

[2nd Gate- Three days later.]

101 breathed a sigh of relief. Another set of reports came in that the Green faction, held quite a force of air units. A thing so only seen used by vertibird pilots and wasteland monsters. Sure they had blueprints and even old models of ancient America. They just didn't have many of them. The problem with them was the wasteland itself. The radiation is thrown into the air and highly corrosive clouds made air that wasn't a verti-bird completely pointless. They could just use artillery or tanks for firepower and as for transportation, Teleportation or vertibirds did those jobs.

Even if they found a tribe that lived in an air force base, they could just use laser point defense weapons. That could work with the Green faction, but they are trying to remain hidden. If they knocked a few birds out of the air, that would bring them knocking down their doors. So far they have only gotten lucky that the Green forces kept near their own turf.

For the entire week, 101 kept working with General Vauban on a proper offensive counter masseur. All of them had one problem. Numbers. Even if the enemy showed no advanced weapons, they still outnumbered them ten to one. If these guys used the same tactics as the NCR, they were screwed.

101 even considered bringing few extra Brotherhood chapters, but the war back home held her hand. They have to gain more territory and wait for New Vegas support. She just needed an update, so she called the Courier.

She picked up the radio and tuned it to his hidden transmission. "6, do you read me?"

"Loud and clear 101. What's the word."

"I need a status report on project, Manifest destiny."

"We've just arrived and about to get my eighth follower, two more and I win a free Sunday."

"Please take this seriously, we are coming to the boiling point. The big Green giant is on our tail."

"Can we just talk normally, it isn't like they can't decipher this shitty code. Plus I think this code it's actively slowing us down."

"Fine, you want me to give it to you here it is. The whole week has been quite and I'm glad it's due to our forces discipline and training. That, however, can only get us so far. We are growing, but not faster than the Green faction. I can see that if they don't find us first, then we will have our territory meet in a day or two."

"If it's due to a lack of manpower then good news, I heard Joshua is sending his best to repay his debt. I know it's only two hundred, but think of them as an elite scout force."

"We don't need scouts, we need numbers. These guys can be wherever they want by just throwing around their troops."

"Sounds like we need information more than actual numbers. I see that they may seem like a massive horde, but that's because we still know very little about them."

"Information is difficult to get now and days. 111 is being stubborn. Your brother has only gotten snippets, while 111 is demanding more."

"What in the hell does he want."

"He wants samples of the technology of the opposing force. He wants their portable tech, small arms samples, and even a few god damn vehicles. We can't do that without tipping off the green faction."

"That sounds like 111, already gave away a piece of info."

"Yes, I know. He believes conflict is inevitable, with his actions. If that is true, then we should stall for as much time before we face an aggressive force."

"I wouldn't say that."

"You know something that I don't?"

"101, you crazy elder. You're looking at this as if they are another wasteland faction or at least something similar. I'm not saying your stupid, far from it, you are the most experience of us. That does leave you with a bit of a stubborn side view of the world. You're looking through everything with past experiences."

"Get to it!"

"The reason 111 believe war is eventually going to break out, is due to ideology. I cannot see them as an actual aggressive faction if they were they would be far ahead of us. They'd be dropping from their helicopters and invading the nearest city with their advantages. As you can see, they are not doing that. Instead, they make contact and that's it. They get into the odd skirmish with Empire and a few Battlemages, but that's about it. That doesn't sound like an aggressive faction to me."

"Oh and pray tell, what do these people sound like to you?"

"Well, we came from a gate that led us to a fantasy land. What's stopping a second gate leading to another that has polite people? These people look like us in a way. Welding massive tanks and shooting the average gun. Then when you think about it, their gear seems a tad too clean. Like as if it never seen a real battle."

"Ah, so you're saying that these people have never been in a nuclear war?"

"I'm saying these people haven't a clue on how to fight a war. Well I being a tad too harsh, but it still stands. They seem to be stalling this fight against the empire, to make sure none of the people get hurt. They don't seem the memo that regardless of the pace you take, war will always be inhuman. People will always get hurt, whether you want to or not. They could easily bypass all of this slow territory gain and head straight to the capital."

"A show of force doesn't guarantee a victory, it might just backfire and motivate them to fight harder."

"True, if your opposing force understands that you can bleed. That's not the case here. They are fighting a highly supervises group. They have also never seen any form of vehicles and believe them to be a sort of animal. Hell, the easiest way to gain control is to pretend to be gods."

"These people have seen magic, dragons and they might even have gods for all we know. How can you sustain a reputation to be a god, in this world."

"You don't have to, just long enough to have major strongholds and a grasp of their economy. Then you can just control them through your political power. Hell, that was my brother's original plan when we first got here. It only lacked the firepower that I demanded, so we scrap it. Now we're here pretending to be devils, the irony, eh."

"Then you're saying that since these people don't act like you, they love peace."

"I'm saying that since these people are to idealist in their way of warfare, they must lack experience, or at least lost it through the generations. That being that war will always be an ugly affair. Very similarly to old news reports of the war in new anchorage, it even creating a counter-culture called hippies."

"I'm still unconvinced of this, but due to the fact that you are right in one aspect. I'll keep this in mind."

"We should have pretended to be gods?"

"No, that I am set in my ways while you're a courier and that a scout. You've seen more of people. Something I am still good at mind you, just that you more up to date on current events."

"Aww, that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me. Now I'm off, Raul is saying that I'm acting like a teenage girl on the phone, whatever that means. See ya around, can't wait to see you when I get back."

"I'd be flattered if the sentence wasn't filled with sarcasm."

* * *

[87 miles away from the second gate: Couriers scout team]

The truck with the tri-barrel minigun stopped a few meters in front of a small village that seemed unoccupied. Inside of the vehicle had four people and an eyebot clamoring out of this war machine. They were on a mission to create alliances or to be more precise, a forced mission of jolly cooperation. They have done this a handful of times in the past few days. Enter a village, tell them to help them and they will help them with guns.

The results were mixed, but they can see early warning signs if they are perceptive enough.

It normally falls into two sign. Is the village old or new and are they wealthy-ish? Depending on these two factors they village people might like the empire or not. Wealthy new villages and old poor villages, normally are screwing the empire or are being screwed by the said empire. They are normally quite eager to jump boat and join our faction that provides. It has had its complications. Such as one time, they had to clear a cave full of spooky scary skeletons. It wasn't hard at all. Easily when I'm a master in crawling in deep, dark, smelly holes, filled with the creature at want to turn you into a decoration on their wall.

Having a shotgun and fighting fragile skeleton doesn't hurt either.

The young poor ones and old rich ones are the opposite. One is being treated quite nicely and the other is too scared to piss off the only opportunity they have. Not much can be said about these ones. They want to stay where they want, so we gotta show our teeth. Plus a few of horns.

This one they are in is quite different. It was old, dingy and large. Yes, that's the easiest way he felt the village looked like, large. It wasn't the size of a town, but the big ass church in the middle of it. It reminded him of gothic architecture, the kind that imposes on you of its authority. I like it.

Lucy gave me a look. "I feel like acting like monsters here would be counterproductive. That, or we go for the whole give us your soul deal?"

The rookie just rams ahead. Completely ignoring us and making wonder if it just didn't think ahead.

Raul decided to give out his thoughts. "Well, boss it seems best to follow your friend. Ese Tipo está loco. So make sure he doesn't do anything in its nature. As an old man and being too beautiful for the common eye. I'll think it's best that ED-E and I will stay back."

"Lucy get ahead and let me know of any nearby townspeople. I'm going to see what's up with the guy."

"Roger," She said as she unslung her bozar. She moved his a honed pace. She started to climb the building with near unimpeded speed and within a few seconds, she was gone from sight.

The courier on the other hand just ran and tried following his jackal. He ran as fast as he could, but he knew that since his target was wearing lightweight power armor and is augmented out of the wazoo, catching up to him would be impossible.

Instead, he just reached for his radio and asked what was going on. "Alright, there better be a life-threatening reason that your running, because I'm goi-"

He stopped when he smelled burning flesh. "Oh. I hope that's not what I think it is."

You never forget it. I don't know why. People always think that once you smell your first BBQ, you smelled them all. But somehow people always seem to know it. It might be a genetic thing, but for the courier, it never seemed to sound right. The smell of burning humans always stuck out. It's how he detected the legion wherever they went. He always blamed it on childhood trauma. He would be wrong either, the first flesh he ever smells burn was, his own mothers. He pushed the memories into the back of his mind, as the radio ringed.

It was Rookie with a spelled message. {I smelled flesh burning. Moved ahead to investigate. Found a witch hunt. Moving to intercept.}

The courier just gritted his teeth and ran to meet up his Jackal.

The rookie moved quickly. The powerful fibber muscles in his legs sent him in an inhuman run. The soldier had a hand on the grip on his chain machete. With the enhanced senses of the suit and the ones implanted in the soldier's skull, let the warrior smell it. Then hear it and finally see it.

There was a line of white-robed figures being marched into a large fire. Men in cloth armor and holding spears guided them. A massive mob was formed around the fire. They weren't cheering or crying. Just an eerie silence hung in the crowd, being only disturbed by the screams of the burning.

The Rookie just didn't know what to make of it. The soldier just didn't understand the fascination of burning them alive. Maybe it was to save time to clean up. It might as well be, for now, this was going to stop. The desert jackal uses his endurance and put the fiber bundle in the power armor legs into overdrive. The soldier leaped into the air and was able to close the distance to the fire. The power armored individual landed with a kick up of dirt. She sent a neurological message into power armor and loaded up an audio file of a roaring death law.

The might burst of a primal roar stunted nearly every. Nearly.

The spearmen didn't pause, instead, they charged and screamed their final battlecries. The first spear didn't arch at the general direction of the Jackal, instead, it bounced onto the ground. It's wielded was already dead. A powered armored hand was wrapped around the neck of the man. It a blink of an eye the rookie dodged the spear and snapped the spearman's neck. The guard fell onto the floor onto a heap. His alleys studded with his near-effortless death. They didn't back off. Instead, they all moved in unison to kill this armored killed.

Then the roar of a mortar drowned them out. The Rookie drew the chain machete from the holster and triggered the weapon. Its teeth came to life and it's wielder charged.

The rookie aimed for the weapons, tearing the wood shafts into sunder. The Desert jackal didn't stop and the machete swung into a wide arch. Its teeth started to whirl even harder, and saturnite teeth chewed muscle and bone asunder. The weapon tore into the front line of men, maiming them horribly and leaving them on the ground, bleeding to death. Others tried, but similar results ensued. The rookie gilded around the battle, killing men in every man who came into contact with his motorized weapon. After a few more seconds of slaughter, the Jackal notice that no more guards came towards the fight. Most of them coward in the crowd. Afraid of this armored demon. A familiar voice called out to him.

"All hostiles are down, stand down." A feminine voice called out.

The rookie turns and saw Lucy on a roof, with her Bozar wrapped in her arms. The thin woman quickly climbed down the building and ran up to him.

"Wonder how our boss is going to react to this." Then they both heard a mad laughter.

* * *

[The courier]

He barely was able to see end of the fight, but he knew what he had to do. He obscured his face with goggles that glowed with a hellish read and the rest with a masked hood. It gave him an aura of mystery, he even so far to attach ragged sleeves onto his duster, but one he needed. He needed to see him as a powerful person, whether they were going to call him a demon or warlock was still up to debate. He gave a booming laugh and started walking towards the scared villagers. He needed to know why they were doing this. He didn't want to invite a bunch of pyromaniacs into his alliance and become a hindrance.

"What a wonderful party you held here. I am delighted to join you. I do hope you don't mind if we used some of your for the slaughter, but we were sidetracked."

A female voice came from the crows. "By the gods! It's one of the demons of the heaven fall gate!"

"Yes!" I screamed in a delighted tone. "We have heard the glorious song of your invite and we came running! Now tell me, why is such a wonderful sacrifice being offered!"

"This is no slaughter demon! Now leave or we-" I wouldn't let this priest rally the crowd, so I silenced him.

I drew Maria and shot it towards the priest's leg. He fell clenching his leg, screaming in pain. "I love your murderous intent, but not your rudeness. Now, you girl in the nun outfit can you be more helpful."

"W-we is following the teaching of Giselle, due to her gracious mercy and feeling of generosity, she has told us the security of deterring the mighty flame dragon. We must burn the most beautiful firstborn daughter." The girl said without stuttering.

I couldn't believe the logic behind this. "W-why? T-that's stupid! You're stupid! Why would you follow that advice? It sounds terrible!"

"She is an Apostle and is one of the dragon folk. She knows more about dragons than any other. She says that the dragons choose their hunt by nose. That they let their noses lead them. If they find already burning the flesh of the purest women. It won't attack."

"So you're doing this out fear because some dragon bitch told you so?" I said with venom in my voice.

"We know this to be true. The Apostle normally don't care about us mortals, so when one of our finer men, um, pleased her. She decided to be generous and give us knowledge in surviving a great flame dragon, we don't believe she'd punish us for following her Goddess hardy, queen of the underworld, for so long. "

Lucy decided to tune in "Okay so tell me. If all of this is true, then why is the dragon coming this way."

"What!" The nun screamed.

"Yeah, it seems to be attracted to this place. Maybe it's the burning flesh."

"No. We won't believe the words of demons!" Then a roar of a flame Dragon sounded off in the distance.

"No! We've been deceived by our demi-goddess! We're doom!"

I knew what I had to do. "Or, we make a pact. We stop the dragon and you swear loyalties to us."

"Why? Do you wise to have us disown our goddess, her Apostle may have betrayed us, but we still hold our faith to her."

"No. I'm not asking for that. You can still follower her, but I want you to swear loyalty to a new fledgling empire. They will protect you and help you. You'd be far better off with them."

"Why would demons ask this of us? Why not just burn down our village and do what you will with the rest?"

"Deals and plots, the rest is none of your concern. Now, do we have a deal." I said with an extension of a handshake."

"Fine, we will do what you say, but The beast must be gone."

"Oh even better. You'll have a powerful guardian."

"What!"

"All you said is the beast must be stopped, not that it can't be tamed." Then I turn and ended right there. Not because I didn't want to ask any more questions. But because I couldn't contain my giddy chuckle!

We could totally use Enclave deathclaw mind control technology on the dragon! It's going to take some time and a sample of DNA to get the calibrations just right! But I'm one way or another going to have a cyber dragon pet! I can give it laser eyes and a robot arm and even a jetpack! I don't know how I can do it but I know no one is happier than I am right now!

[The Heavenfall Gate]

101 was reading the report right. She just was told that her prototypes are going to get here in a few hours. The woman was smiling cheek to check. I old project in the works for three years is finally finished.

"MY Mega robot scorpion tanks are here!"

The shout was so loud that everyone at base heard it and wondered. What the hell is that?

Soon they'll see the mighty atomizing laser tail of the Robo scorpion tank!

RST for short.


	5. Chapter 5

**Alrighty, I got me some news. One. I had to split this chapter into two parts. It's because this one is around 9.5k words and these are usually 7k. If you're wondering why not just make this one longer. It's because of number two. I'm going to take a little while to upload another chapter. I'm going to work on another fanfic that I have been neglecting. Don't worry I'm not planning on spending a whole month in it. I'm just going to take turns in uploading chapters and I want to take advantage of my time off. Gosh, I wish I had a separate message board so I don't have to leave these author note in the chapter.**

Chapter 5- Broken hearts Part 1

Lt. Itami bit into a ration bar. It was chewy. He did long for a day where he did get a hot meal, but he was on another convoy, escorting refugees. This time though they are going to the city of Italica. They told us we would only need to drop them off near it, so we don't have to worry about being in a combat situation.

Tuka did make a friend, he thinks. It's a magical girl or mage, at least that's what she calls herself, her name is Lele. A nice girl, but a bit too distant to get a proper idea of who she is. Though Itami Believes that she's a good girl, well other than the fact she dresses in a hazmat suit everytime she moves outside of the base. Other than that she's fine.

His Humvee came to a sudden stop and his head was flung forward. Smacking the dashboard of his vehicle. His skull was throbbing.

"Hey guys, tell me when you're going to stop". He rose his head to see smoke. Lots of it. A walled city seemed to be under siege by an army. An army he doesn't recognize. They were in tatters and are completely disorganized. Their battle gear doesn't match one another and the weapons varied on the battalion they formed.

He turned to his Sargent. "Hey, Kuribayashi do you think those are the deserter bandits?"

The jeeps occupants jumped at the comment. "What are you saying commander."

"I Think what I am saying is that we need to make sure these people are safe." Kuribayashi just stared at him, smiled and gave a nod.

"Alright everyone let's move out and get ready for some heavy fighting! Remember to check your fire, there are natives in the vicinity." A hail of confirmations responded to his orders.

He just wishes he hasn't gone over his head. Then he heard crows.

[City of Italica]

Princess Pina was still waking as she walked down the cities blocks. The news was given that they spotted something unusual heading their way. Some say it's a great green rhino or some horseless carriage. Both of them are equally moronic, but she can't dismiss it as an enemy ruse.

It's been two days now and they are already nearly broken. The bandit army was just so large. She's never seen anything like it. Their fanatical screams and mad suicidal charges on their wall is just something else. Then again, if they are who she suspect they are, then she might understand.

The battle at the two gates was devastating. The bulkhead of the largest armies ever sent by the Empire has swept away like if they were nats gnawing at the tail of a mighty griffon. An image cultivated by the people traveling to Italica for refuge. Their faces of awe and humility telling more than their words.

The men in green are being spoken of with an air of gratitude. Anyone talking about them always speaks of their kind approach and constant deeds of heroism, are a staple of them. They also speak of their mighty steeds of metal and staffs of fire. Entire formations of bandits and empire soldiers turn tail, at the mere mention of their presence. Only other battle mages and overwhelming numbers can score a minor victory with major losses at their side.

The second gate, however, is a different story. People speak of demons made of metal and great elephants that shoot balls of lightning from their trunks are spoken of. The ruthlessness of their conquest is known by all the local people. On how, if you see a man with bulbous glowing green eyes, then he is the harbinger of your enslavement. Constant tales of them appearing out of nowhere and forcing the village to comply. Then to never hear of them, other than, form travelers who were able to run as fast as possible to the nearest walled settlement.

Something about that made her a bit nervous. They know next to nothing about the enemy at the 2nd gate.

She wouldn't admit to anyone, but if she had to cross blades with any of them, it would be the men in green. It wasn't any a feeling of outright hatred, She did want them defeated at the feet of the empire. But she has to feel in the deep part of her gut, telling her that the demons of the 2nd gate, are ones that you don't want to fight against and lose. Whatever mortal men can inflict on her must pale in comparison to any monster from the hell realm.

She put that thought in the back of her mind when she stopped at the city gate. Her mentor and old friend, Gray was waiting for her at the doors entrance. He saluted and spoke. "Princess Pina, it's good to see you. We will need your input in this situation."

"Oh, is there something my old mentor can't decipher on his own," Pina said playfully.

"It's good to see you in high spirits princess. It will heighten the morale of the men seeing your chipper mood." The knight said, attempting to make the mood lighter at the wall. "No, we have a group of refugees attempting to take refuge in the city."

"Well turn them away, they won't be safer here than out there. We also don't have any supplies to feed them either." The princess said without missing a beat.

She knew she sounded cold, but at times like these, people needed to make sacrifices.

"No my lady, it's not about them. They have, a special escort."

Pina raised an eyebrow at that. "What kind of escort?"

"A mage, an elf, and Rory Mercury." Grey Co Aldo said deadpan

"What! Then why are they still out there? Invite them in and we can ask The Apostle of Emroy for aid!" Pina said with an ecstatic tone.

"There is also one more thing you might find, disturbing." The knight attempted to say with as much care as possible.

The Princess just took a step back, wondering what kind problem this is. Then she heard a knock and in a broken accent. "Umm, hello. Is anyone still there. We are still waiting."

Pina just turns to look at the door. She knew that voice must have belonged to a foreigner. Not many of them are near except for two types of them. Both are dangerous, but only one of them can be negotiated with. She slowly walked to the door's peephole and placed her hand on the handle.

Slowly she opens it to see the uninterested eyes of a man in green. She quickly closed the small peephole and placed her back to it. Her heart was racing.

"Hey! I saw you. You can't pretend that I'm not here." The man screamed.

Pina knew they were no match against the bandits, even if her knights arrived soon. If there was any chance of surviving, then she'll need these people as allies! The princess thought as she swung the doors open.

"Welcome everyone!" She said as she felt a large bump.

Everyone with the man in green was looking at her. She had a confused face, she didn't know why they were looking at her like that. Then she noticed that the man in green waste there with them. Her eyes widen at the realization. She turned her head to the right and as she thought, the man in green was there. Completely knocked out.

A young voice spoke out. "My, My. That's quite the welcome." Pina saw it was Rory who spoke and wondered if she was able to salvage this.

[Speaking of salvaging things. Courier and friends.]

The beast glided through the air with more grace than its form said was capable of. The courier has seen many different kind monsters. He's seen a super mutant deathclaw the size of buildings. He's seen a swarm of blood mosquitoes lift up a Brahmin and suck it dry in a second. He's seen a robot giant crush a jet carrier. Hell, he's even a super mutant behemoth use a battleship cannon as a rifle. That was a nightmare.

This dragon, on the other hand, is a freaking dream. With the application of Enclave technology, we could for a lack of a better term, get a dragon pet and best friend. Also maybe a killing machine, but let's be honest here, he's most likely going to name her love muffin and play fetch with her as soon he can get a branch or a full on tree.

The great red giant made another barrel roll in the air.

The courier continued to observe the dragon for another minute until he got a confirmation. "Lucy here, we have the jeep in position to distract the big ass lizard. I have to say, do you really think we can pierce its scales."

I gave a smirk to that comment. "If a gauss rifle with overcharged cells can't hurt it, then I royally fucked up."

Lucy was still not convinced of my plan. "Fine, if we can crack it's hind, then what. We will still have one big ass dragon on us."

Her worry was understandable, but she is missing one thing. "We don't need to kill it you know. Unlike the monsters of the waste, it's brain is completely free of any form of tumors that would impede its judgment. So unlike the wooden critters of our home, this thing has a sense of self-preservation."

"Then all we need is one moment of danger for the beast to fly," Lucy asked inquisitively.

"Yup, that's the jig."

A massive roar shook everything around me. I raised my head to see the massive monster breathing in. My heart started pounding in my chest. "Alright, Raul! Slam that pedal to the floor and RIDE!"

"Boss that isn't good for the vehicle and on it!" After that, I started to hear the hum of the fission engine revving up.

The metal box on wheels started to jump out of the forest it was hiding in. Causing the Dragon to take notice. It unleashed the torrent of flame towards the armored vehicle. The superheated breath washed over the machine and envelope it in an inferno. The Humvee jumped out with a coat of black soot covering it. It was still running but it was noticeably janky in its movement. Lucky the Humvee armor can resist limited plasma fire and that plating let it survive the dragon's breath.

Then one of the doors swung open to reveal the rookie in his limber power armor. With agility that no man can achieve without any form of augmentation, the rookie jumped onto the trunk and moved towards the tri-barreled gun. He took a tube and started to apply it to the machine.

He was using the limited aline goo that I bought from 101. It's stupidly useful and I love the crap out of it.

Another gust of fire nearly hit them again, but Raul seems to be quite talented in operating the truck. Hell, I bet he's good with the fact he older than the war. He must have plenty of experience and familiarize with the machine to become a talented driver. Finally, that old ghoul doesn't need to complain to him, about always walking everywhere.

The rookie was still on the back and finishing up with the application of the goo and properly mounted the gun. Avoiding a tail swipe from the dragon the 50 cals. Rounds started to pepper the beast. The machine gun bullets were doing minimal damage to the beast. I was about to tell the rookie to aim for the eye's until he started to do it himself.

The rounds got closer to their target until the dragon started to thrash its wings. The gust of wind was able to throw off the aim of the rookie. The relentless bashing of the gust of wind ensured the rookie's continued misses.

This was when I knew to take aim.

The beast wouldn't notice little old me when there is a very annoying target in front of it. I hefted my gauss rifle and aimed it. I steadied my breathing and steadied my arms. The radical of the scope slowly made it towards of the shoulder of the wing. My best bet of the dragons lightest armored body part.

As I zeroed in on the joint, I gently squeeze the trigger and saw the projectile be violently thrown out by the weapons magnetic coils.

I couldn't even blink as the 2mm EC bullet made contact. With a thundering impact, it split the dragon's scales and made a bloody crater. Forcing it to stay on the ground for an extended period of time. I aimed once more and fired at its chest. Once again it penetrated, but not with the same notable crater.

The Monstrous dragon started to fail around madly. Obviously in pain. My team on the Humvee decided to capitalize on this opening and fired towards the hole I made for them. Any rounds making impact anywhere near the wound started to shake of few loose scales.

The beast reared up for a swipe towards the armored vehicle and I fired towards the offending limb. The miniature bullet once again made impact, creating another notable wound on it.

The massive dragon seems to notice it's decreasing health and started to move away from the fight. It's base instincts are telling it to run. With one of its wings, notable damaged it made a gambit. With a single exaggerated movement, it swung its wing. Creating an overwhelming gust of wind that nearly overturned the truck. With its split-second opening, it used its powerful legs to run. It trampled trees and any wildlife in its way. Leaving an easily traceable road of breadcrumbs.

I took a few pot shots to make sure it's properly scared. When the Dragon running away with its tail between its legs. I lowered my gauss rifle. Then I radioed in. "Alright guys, get to the area we penetrated its scales and find DNA samples. With enough elbow grease and know how. We will have my very own fire-breathing deathclaw with wings."

"Aye, boss do you really think adopting a dragon, as a pet. I mean, what about ED-E." I hail of angry beeps followed up that commitment.

"Raul, we all know ED-E is equal to us and yes I do. I mean can you blame me. I love lizards, no matter how dangerous."

"Look, guys, we can talk about this later. Right now were late and in need to get back to the base. Now please let's collect those blood samples and scales. If 101 catches us late she's going to go full drill sergeant on our asses."

They didn't argue anymore, due to our collective fear of 101 and her relentless exercise punishments. It only took us around fifteen minutes to get everything in order. We moved towards the village we were protecting and they gave us their loyalty.

But for now, I got a future date with an awesome dragon. So, Today is a good day.

[Second Gate- Hanger]

101 was absolutely giddy! The massive Robo scorpions modified from Big M. data banks. It took them about three years to design and build theses robot tanks. These are the very beast of the beast. Every little tidbit and every screw was placed, with through calculations. The material used to make them are from the earth's nearly depleted crust. Digging up alloys and harvested Helion 4. The pilot was a single human hook into it the same way one would hook themselves into power armor.

The thing was armored with the perfect balance of saturnite. To give it unparalleled defense and light armor for its size. It's speed and maneuverability wasn't something to scoff at either. Its legs were a cross design of scorpion legs for multi-terrain and the treads of a sentry bot, giving it speed. Thanks to having eight of these attached to the war machine, they have improved upon the tank's biggest weakness. It's treads. No longer did they need to worry about a stray missile to the tanks treads, making the machine into a glorified torrent. Its legs were fantastically durable and capable of moving with only three of them active. It was truly a juggernaut.

Its weapons were nothing to scoff at either.

Its main gun was an atomic laser tail cannon, capable of melting through feet of reinforced steel and capable of releasing a concentrated EMP blast. Thanks to the weapons being designed like a tail, it has a remarkable reaction time. Capable of snapping to 180-degree angle in a split second. It is slightly less armored, but it is still a beast of a weapon. Its pincers are either close quarters melee weapons, or you could replace them with twin linked 50mm autocannons. Which is the option she picked? For anti-personnel option, it had a 12.7mm machine gun on its head.

And it all handled like a dream. Thanks to technology from DC. They used a hybrid simulation to have the pilot operate it like it was his own body and thanks to the fission generator, the exact same kind that liberty prime used. It had plenty of power to operate with.

Her thoughts were interrupted by her secretary. "Ma'am!" The boy nearly screams as he sluggishly saluted.

101 could only sigh. "Boy get into form properly and for the love of god temper your voice. You're acting as if you found a nest of blowflies in your arse. Now, out with it. Why did you disturb my me time."

"Ah, yes. General Vauban wishes to let you know that we will need 6 very soon and that you should get him geared up. We also got note that Liberty prime is carrying the package. He is said to arrive here in a matter of hours, he's being escorted by a battalion of BOS and a pack or 6's special pets."

101 just raised an eyebrow at that. "Pets? Boy."

"I don't know the detail, only that they were nicknamed batch 13."

101 could only facepalm at that. 6 had to be a lizard lover, did he. So much so that he accepted a "gift" from 111, to grow intelligent deathclaws She honestly didn't know what to think of it. In one hand, they might have made the wastelands greatest threat. On the other, they might have made a solution to their number one pest problem. It all was a headache, but as long the courier didn't make them bigger and stronger and for the love of god, breath fire. They would be peachy.

"Fine, about his gear. Where should I tell him to get his new gear and what kind is it?"

"Right ma'am."

[four hours later- In the meeting room.]

"You're late" Said 101 with venom in her voice.

The courier could only stiffen up. He had very few options because if he slipped up, he'd be getting one of 101 famous lectures. she stared into my soul until she burned a hole into it. I felt guilty. As if he skipped out on the monthly harvest for my parent's farm, wasting half the crops and now we have to send grandma into insanity institute because we couldn't afford that old folk home. Man, he should have taken that lecture.

I raised my hands in defeat. "Fine! I won't let it happen again."

"Good, now down to business." She stepped back and general Vauban stepped forwards."

"Alright gentlemen, it's about time we made our first grand assault." The man pressed a couple of buttons on the terminal in front of us and a hologram of a city appeared in front of us.

I smiled at our progress. Around dozens of settlements have our icon on the lucky 38 on top of it. Our goal was not just reached but exceeded. We had plenty of territories to give to 111 and enough to create a small nation state if we wanted.

"The city of Italica has is under attack by a raider force. Scouts say that the enemy is making serious headway. I'm going, to be honest here. These guys are cumps at best and target practice at worst. If we were to assault this city now, the people would be grateful and the enemy is target practice. Which is why I'm proposing an invasion of the city known as Italica."

101 looked at him. "What about the men in green, unlike the cumps you described they have guns and pretty big ones. What about them."

General Vauban just smiled. "Well, I do what I do best. Faint ignorance and plead our case of liberation. I mean, I am pretty good at it as well."

101 just looked him with a bit of suspicion "Well, why should I trust you in this. I say we assault the capital. That way we can gain control of the entire empire."

The General cleared his throat. "I am an ex-auxiliary general of Caesar's Legion. From experience, I can say we would be overextending ourselves if we went to the capital. Now, if we went to the city nearby us, then we would have plenty of lands and have the troops to hold it."

101 just frowned. "Caesar's Legion? Aren't they the band of slavers, rapist, and murders that terrorized the western border of New Vegas?"

The general raised his hands in defense. "Hey, I know what Caesar has done is terrible, but he did make his territory safe. He didn't go along and did it with sheer brawn. He needed brain as well. The Romans were famous in persuading native in fighting for them. Caesar was all about copying them. I am one of those natives, I used a bit of charm in persuading native culture's in joining the legion."

The Ruler of the Capital looked at me. She had a look on her. One of her famous faces, that could rip information out of a corrupt politician. Only one word came out of her lips. "Explain"

I strained up and took a crossed armed posture. "If you think I recruited a murderous raider as a general for this. Then you're wrong. General Vauban is a man who works for least of two evils. When he came to me, he did it because he knew the legions days were numbered and no longer needed go exist. He's been doing what he's been doing for his entire life. Rebuilding society."

"Ah, I guess he would be an expert in conquering new lands and integrating their culture into ours. I will respect his destinations for now, but you and I will have a talk about his past employment."

"Well ma'am, I do hope that you respect my choice of deployment. We will be copying 111 settlement response. Which means heavy use of quick deployment of infantry and heavy weapon emplacements. The troops being led by you and the courier will be buying time for the heavy armor to arrive. There will be use of verti-birds and alien craft to deploy fifteen squads of the regular ground stompers. Though, I do hope to send in the mechanized infantry as a spearhead. I just need your permission to scramble the troopers and BOS mobile Armor. "

101 smiled. "I'll be sure my boys soften up the LZ. I do have to ask about any possible artillery support. I do believe some of my paladins have mortars on their heavy rigs."

"Where equipping the Verti-birds with Rockets. They should be loaded with sixty each. With a good spread, they should be able to clear a nice patch for our boys to land."

101 wasn't fully convinced yet. "Have our pilots trained in these."

"This will be there first use in deployment, but they have scored quite high in the simulation. As long they don't face an opponent with any form of AA, which the enemy has none of. They should be fine."

"Alright, one last thing and we will have our courier friend, equipped with his new gear." I smiled at that. I felt almost naked without my assassin suit. So I'm glad that they finally repaired it, or replace it.

"If it's about the Men in green, then that's what our heavy armor is there for. Anything they have, no matter how alien to us, won't survive one of your plasma cannons in the face."

"That's not it General. I should let you know that we got a convoy with a few special packets with it. We have a nuclear bomb from megaton that is still active. I decided to bring it here as extra muscle. I should let you know we have no real vehicle that can safely transport it, except one. If push comes to shove. Then be sure that you will have the support of Liberty Prime behind you."

My eyes widen at that. 101 has only a few tells when she's dead serious in doing something. She'll sometimes just announce it in front of everyone. She'll lead a spearhead assault when she hates you. When she wants something done and she needs it to send a message, she'll bring out the multi-ton fighting machine for liberty, Liberty Prime himself.

I had to say something about it. "Dang girl, you must love the view here, because the last time you sent out the crusader of Democracy, was when the enclave made a last-ditch attempt in assassinating you, ten years ago."

"The trees are a nice shade of green and I do hope that the faction of the same color frees the power of the Atom. Which I'm surprised that you're not worried about it."

I cocked my head at that. "I know why you brought it. It's the purpose of every weapon of mass destruction. It's a deterrent. We'll have it loaded on a bomber, piloted by a boomer, ready to go on a moment's notice. I have an understanding of flashy toys. I'm a fan of them."

"Yeah you are, aren't you. I should let you know that your, deathclaws have arrived."

I jumped in excitement. I have raised them to be the best deep infiltration units and the best friend a wasteland could ever wish for. "Hell Yeah! Where are they! I bet Smiles wants his tummy rubs right about now."

"6, Why in the hell would you rub the stomach of a beast who wants you in its stomach and why in the hell would you name one of them smiles.." 101 said with a bit of sarcasm in her voice.

"Well, Smiles is always happy and has his tongue out slobbering over everything. Plus when he ever talks about anything all he ever wants to do is make people smile. Heck, he has this peek a boo trick where he makes babies laugh uncontrollably."

"You let them near babies!" Both the general and 101 screamed in unison."

"Look, they are smart kids and I haven't had them actually hurt anything yet. I just want them here as an intimating bodyguard and maybe some light scouting. This is mainly a test run for their abilities"

Vauban ran out the tent. He was probably worried that my deathclaws are running a muck. He'd be sorely disappointed though, they are angle in rough leathery skin. 101, on the other hand, was pinching the bridge of her nose. "You know what, I don't care anymore, we need to get you geared up, let's go."

"Alright," I said in a happy tone. I should be too because my arms are getting a bit chilly in this coat.

[2nd Gate-Armory]

My entire team was in here alongside me, being armed and ready for the next confrontation. Lucy had her Bozar and tribal armored, Rookie had his light rig power armor, with his trusty chainsaw machete and a plasma pistol. First time I've seen the guy with a ranged weapon. Most likely it's the first time he'll actually need one. Raul had his six-shooter and his mechanic suit. ED-E just floated near me. Ready at all times. In front of me was 101 with a box filled with all of my new goodies.

101 open the lid and started pulling out a white chest piece. "111 wanted me to tell you he made this just for you."

I nearly had a spasm when I saw the green and black suit being pulled out of the box. "Well, 6, what do you think about stealth suit 3.0."

I had to stop myself from jumping up and down and squealing like an Elvis fangirl. "Is, is my favorite suit A.I. on board?"

101 reach for the metallic collar of the suit and pressed a button. A sweet, electronic voice came through. "All programs are running at peak efficiency, all of the suits functions are operating with no notable malfunctions. The suit is filled with all critical medical supplies. A suit is at peak efficiency. I'm ready to help you snea- *electronic gasp* I thought you forgot about me!"

I had to hold back a tear. Today has been so wonderful! "Computerised, Utility, technical, intelligence, enforcer! I missed you so much, ED-E has been such a pessimistic Debbie downer ever since your, um. Death."

Lucy stuck her head out of her locker and looked at me? "What kind of name is that!? Wait, is that an abbreviation?"

"Yup," I said in a cheery tone.

"So you named you deadly stealth suit-"

"C.U.T.I.E," I said cutting her off.

"... Please don't name any future children of yours. I'll feel way to bad for them if you do."

I gave her a small frown. Then Cutie spoke. "Hello! I'm glad that you didn't forget me, I always wondered why, if it was because I didn't perform as well as you expected, then don't fear. I have received a few upgrades in software and hardware. I will no longer disappoint."

"No cutie. It wasn't your fault. I just ran into some bad luck and I lost you." Flashes of the battle of hoover dam raced in my mind. Remembering being caught on fire and the sensation of burning flesh. The memory of the battle still felt fresh. It was a place where he lost a lot of friends, but he'll keep coping. He always does.

"Mister master? You have lost interest in this conversation. Felt like you forgotten me again."

"What no, I'm just remembering old memories."

Lucy chimed in once again. "Mister Master? Please don't tell me your that kind of person. Oh for the love God! Please tell me calling you boss wasn't a fetish for you!"

I gave her a look that crossed embarrassed and annoyed. "No to both of those. That's just what she calls me. She doesn't accept numbers or titles as names."

101 seem to finally break and interrupted the conversation. "Look, your suit or AI can tell you the rest. I'm off to ready the troops. Get ready and armed in the hanger by 0300."

The woman left the room as quickly as she could. I knew it was because she hated being around me. I believe she has a stick up her ass. I turned and looked at my team of four, five if you included ED-E.

Lucy walked up to me and leaned in. She whispered to me. "Hey before we go, do you mind telling if you found a pendant. I can't find it in my locker."

"Oh, the quartermaster clears and restocks lockers every week or so. You can't get to him by today. The guy probably off beyond the gate now. He'd be back in a day or two. We can get your pendant then."

"Oh, alright. Then let's get going." She turned to go, but I stopped her.

"What's up with the long face?"

"IT's just a good luck charm, that's all."

I looked at her and studied her expressions. She obviously was lying. The thing means something to her. I didn't want to pry but we can't have her distracted. "Hey, if it's important, then maybe we should look for it."

She looked at me with surprised eyes. "No, no it's fine. I'm just not used having it on me during a fight. I can still go at my 100%, don't you worry."

I smiled and grabbed all American from the weapon locker. "Well, I'll hold you to it. Don't worry, by tomorrow I'll help you get it back."

She bumped her fist together "Then let's go and get yourself a new shiny city."

[City of Italica]

Lt. Itami was running low on mags. He counted one spare mag and one-half empty in his rifle. The fight is starting to look bleak.

He called for support yesterday and headquarter told him they are scrambling air support. Their ETA was in thirty minutes. The problem he has with this is that they might not hold for that long. The citizens are breaking and the walls are being crawled over by hostiles. He needs them out there and not inside the city. If they do, then they will need to clear them out in CQC. That won't be a pretty sight.

The sound of tearing flesh and the giddy laughter caught his attention. The gothic lolita that followed them is quite handy with her axe.

The girl has the largest kill count of the whole group and she's showing no signs of slowing down. Kuribayashi was following her examples and is engaging the bandits in hand to hand combat. His fellow squadmate was giving them covering fire. The rest of this squad was spread out throughout the wall. Laying supporting fire in the mass of bandits.

Lele showed how useful she is be helping them with spells. Entire waves were pushed back with her weird explosive balls. Tuka supported her friend and summon spirits and revitalized the mage. It also knocked out a few bandits into unconsciousness.

Itami was pretty beat, but he has hope. They might be able to hold, he has doubts about the conscripted civilians and how long they can keep their nerve. If they break, then that means the bandits can just storm right in. completely ignoring them if they wanted. He just hopes that his reinforcements get here soon.

Then he heard the whirling blades of a helicopter. He raised his head from his rifle and saw in the distance, a bunch of silhouettes of copters. Not the ones he's used to. These ones… Well, they looked weird. They had dual rotary blades and were bumpy? Well, they look round in an old fashion way.

These weren't theirs.

If not then who? These guys might have a form of helicopter, but they act as if they never seen one before. It's very unlikely that the case then. Then he started thinking. People say there is a migration of demons coming out of a second gate. Scouts say that they didn't find anything of the sort, but what if these guys were trying to hide.

Then a third faction that is modernized could hide from them somehow. If that's true and the civilians call these guys demons, then he doesn't like what these could be like.

[Verti-birds]

The courier once again felt the thrumming of the bird. He had the all American ready at his chest and the 9mm Maria at his hip. A simple combat knife he found in a kharns grave was holstered at his right shoulder. A cowl adorns his head. It's colors matched his suit. "Hey, cutie. What's the extra feature you got in this suit?"

A shy voice responded. "For one I have far more computing power. If you require any assistance in hack or any task that requires intelligence. Your pip-boy is far more effective with me assisting you. That way people can't ignore me, while they were shot at. Oh, I feel like I'm blushing already with them looking at me."

"You don't have checks cutie."

"Right. Well, you can also expect me keeping you fighting a bit longer. I can automatically inject you with any medical drug you need and even a few combat drugs are available. Please don't go crazy with that feature. I don't want you to overdose and leave me."

"I'm a cyborg, cutie. It's hard to do that with me."

"Which is what makes you stand out mister master. Oh, since Louie notices that you like being in the waste for extended periods of time, he added nanobots that can help me repair myself. All you have to do is put some scrap in my nanobot container and poof. I'm good as new."

"Who in the hell is Louie?"

"That's the real name of the man named 111. He seemed very hesitant to tell me that. I don't understand why."

I burst out laughing like a maniac. I had tears running down my face at the revelation of the name, of the worlds coldest man. He personally took over the boogeyman operation in Boston and killed his own son and his name is Louie! I noticed the occupants in the verti-bird staring at me and soon I got a transmission from 101. "What the hell is going on in there. I've been told by your team that you're going crazy!"

"111's real name is Louie!"

101 attempted to hide her laughter but cracks formed in her hardass nature. "Pffft! I don't understand why that's so *chuckling* funny to you. Louie is a respectable name of a cold, calculating, ruthless leader. A guy who has a title so well known that it strike free into the local raider. *chuckles* Now stop acting childish and get ready for the drop."

I heard the pilot speak out. "ETA in one minute. Get ready to go in hot!"

The radio tuned in and I heard the battle cries of the brotherhood knights and paladins. Their noble roars in latin dominated our radio. They contain promises of a swift victory, a bright future for the waste and glory for their elder. I had to see them fighting this hoard of men.

I moved forward to the cockpit of the bird. There was a single pilot as this vehicle only needed the one. I was able to glimpse the landing. Great plumes of dirt flew into the sky, obscuring the men. They were just outside the bandit army, only the rear turned to see what was going on. The rest was to busy assaulting their target. A couple just turned and ran in the other direction. They must have been survivors of skirmishes with our faction. I saw a few of them charge. Completely unaware who they were fighting. They also were the larger kind as well. Easily reaching the height of the knight in heavy rig power armor.

To everyone, it looked like a regular knight standing amongst armored titans. Oh, how funny it is to me. Because in truth, the reverse is right.

I saw 101 reaching the shoulder height of her heavier troops. The light rig didn't increase the user's hight as it's model didn't use the power armor frame. The woman let out the command to fire reach everyone's radio. The knights aimed the new 50 cals. Miniguns they were given and let out a wall of lead that shredded the charging men. The Paladins aimed their arm-mounted plasma guns and fired miniature suns into the swarm. Easily melting through armor and leaving massive chucks in flesh. The Verti-birds unleashed a swarm of rockets, into the main swarm of men. The pilots did a good job in spreading the fire equally into the crowd. Then again, I can see room for improvement.

At this point the enemy force noticed us. I can bet you that the commanders are not the ones who fought us. How do I know? They ordered a counter-attack us. Their troops politely lined up and started charging. Our weapons punch through their shield like if they were paper. Scores of men died in the hail of lead and plasma. It was difficult to miss, to the point where the enemy force noticed and just simply started charging.

It was a hell of a sight. Something I haven't seen since Caesar's legion.

The knights and paladins were cutting them down by the dozen, but these are just too many in number to be beaten in rage. They will need our support in order to avoid that. That's when I felt my bird touchdown. I gave a grin and grabbed All American. "Alright people, target practice. Oh, and if you feel wezy mowing down other humans like dogs, then remember this. These people think raping and enslaving people is Okay! Now let's boogie!"

I jumped out with my rifle and moved to the front. I stood next to a paladin with dual mounted plasma gun, strapped to his arm. The paladin just kept on firing.

He crouched in a fire position and readied himself. He saw other verti-birds unleash their contingent of vegas swords and marines. They quickly started setting up the fallback gun emplacements. They had a mix of incinerators and machine gun emplacements. He had his men equipped with laser rifles and riot shotguns. The lasers will have the advantage in ammo, giving each soldier two thousand shots each. A great advantage of energy weapons it the ability to stock up on high capacity energy cells. The riot shotguns are either loaded with slugs, for long-range combat eight gage shells.

I turned and saw one more verti-bird. It's doors swung open and unleashed three deathclaws. They were equipped with stealth boy and unique camo cloaks. They gracefully leaped out and roared a bone-shaking roar. I turned and saw the bandits stumble for a second. Buying my teams to set up their guns. What good and smart kids, I should reward them for that later. They gave me a nod and swiftly charged into the distance, activating their stealth boy in the process.

They will be relaying information of the enemy position and waiting for me to give the order to attack.

I turned and aimed the All American. I sighted my first target and then I squeezed the trigger. The guys head turned into a haze of red mist. I aimed for my second and repeated the action. I did this over again until they started closing the gap. I stood up and sound the tactical retreat.

"Alright, fall back and let our gunners get some kills!"

101 chimed in. "Delay that order! Charge in and engage in hand to hand combat!"

"What the hell are you doing! You cannot go off and play fantasy!"

"We've spotted the enemy starting to charge through the city gate. We need to move in and take them while they are still clustered together! To do that we need to push through this wave!"

"What!... Alright." I had an idea, but it's going to be a bit risky. "Get the heavy weapons on the verti birds. Move ahead of us and land on the walls and set them up there. Then fed them off. If they start swarming on you then cover them in napalm or fill them with lead."

A roar of confirmations hailed me. I didn't go with them. Instead, I moved with 101. I moved forward and aimed my rifle. I spat out rounds into the crowd. Always hitting the ones to close for comfort, always checking my aim for friendly fire.

When I saw the brotherhood soldiers march forward, I stayed back. I kept on firing on anyone who looks like the pack a punch. The power armored knight kept moving forward, never letting up on their fire. The Paladins flanked them covering the blind spots of their comrades. 101 was using her unique plasma rifle melting entire parts of the body.

The verti-birds flew over us, flying towards the walls and firing side-mounted miniguns into the crowd.

Then I saw the Brotherhood soldiers charge. They charged through the devastated counter assault and fired at the remaining survivors. I stood up and ran to catch up with the rest of the troopers. While I saw the birds unload the marines and vegas soldiers. They moved quickly to set up their guns and fired their rifle and shotguns to anyone who got close.

The sounds of miniguns resume and I saw the brotherhood soldiers open fire at a distance, towards the mass of men. It wasn't difficult to achieve a kill. They were all funneling into the gate of the city and tightly pack themselves.

I heard 101 screams. "Ready the motors!"

The paladins stepped forward and hunched forward, exposing the 25mm motor on their backs. They took the opportunity to let their plasma guns cool down at this moment and I gust of steam vent out.

101 gave the order to fire and simple thumps where heard. The air screeched as the grenades sailed through them. I waited a few seconds until I saw green explosions. Dozens of them met home and scattered the invaders. Their grouped formation amplifying the damage the guns did to them.

I just stood there, not bothering to fire my gun. This fight was already over. The gun crews were on the wall and unleashing everything they had on the remaining bandits. I also notice other troopers aiming at the other end.

They must be firing at the ones who got in.

Then I notice him. A man in green cloths and maybe combat armor too? I don't know, I've never seen a pattern like theirs. I then notice it was my first time seeing one of them in the flesh. I was… underwhelmed. I was expecting something more… advance? Or something like power armor that looked sleek and space age. Oh more like giant robots you can pilot and fly with giant jetpacks and the can also have laser swords. I should implant that idea into the brains. Who knows they might be able to pull it off.

A second green soldier joins him. A girl at the height of her, but he could be wrong. The new faction seems to always use adults in their recruits, but they never met them face to face until today.

The female one said something to the male one and she made some motions to her. She shook her head and ran back where she came from. The guy I'm assuming is the leader spotted me.

He observed me and I did the same in turn. I made as many observations as possible of the guy. All he got was that he wore green. Well damn. He's doing this for nothing.

He snapped into action when he heard screaming. The remaining bandits were charging at them. Most likely to get away from the battle and into the forest, quite a run but one that's in their best interests.

I just starting aiming my rifle and starting firing. Taking down any of them getting near, until one of them charged me on the side.

[The wall of the city.]

Itami saw the man in the weird combat suit jab his combat knife into another bandit. He was in awe of this guy's skill. He moved and weave through battlefield like some sort action hero form those American movies. Yet the guy was difficult to notice. If it wasn't for the massive green explosion, he would have missed him altogether. The guy had a talent for killing in all sort of ways.

Whoever these guys are, they are making short work of the army that was just here. First a massive wave of rockets and then a hail of minigun fire. They also have weird green bolts that melt people and maybe lasers? He doesn't know. All he does know is that these guys arrived just in time.

When he saw their chopper move towards the wall he knew it would only cause pointless bloodshed. These guys probably would have shot them on the spot if they didn't find a proper spot to hunker down.

Then they just started cleaning up. Taking out the bulk of the remaining force and just are taking care of the aftermath.

He saw him get jumped by a dude with a sword, the green guy just moved nearly in a blur and he swiped with his knife. The swordman neck exploded in spray of blood and the green guy just switched to his rifle. Itami noticed a group of fifteen or so charge the green guy. He just aimed his rifle and fired. Itami noticed that the weapon must have been a sort of marksman rifle with the way it fire.

Then his eyes widen at the sight.

The Green guy fired his rifle as fast as he could. Normally this would look like a soldier losing trigger discipline, but this was different. The guy fired his gun and every shot found a mark. It wasn't as if they were body shots either. They were all headshots. The bandits found themselves being gun down quickly and started trying moving directly, in an attempt to dodge the bullets. It didn't work. The guy kept on fire as quickly as he normally did and the bandits kept falling with craters in their skulls.

Over a dozen bodies laid in front of him, taken down by marksmanship and agility. He continued to watch the guy shoot and stab until the last remaining bandits ran.

He just stood there until there was silence. The fight against the bandits was over. All was left was to meet these guy and learn what they want. He had ordered a shot only if shot at order to his guys. As long as we can open up negotiations, they might be able to end this peacefully.

"Oh my, He's quite the piece of work." An axe-wielding goth lolita said.

"Yeah, he's quite scary. I've never seen someone with that kind of reactions. Well as long we don't provoke them, we can probably make an alliance."

"Hmmm, well that not true."

I gave her a look. "What do you mean."

"That man in the green and black suit. He's quite faithful. I can smell the blood and the sight of all of his conquered victims."

Itami looked at her with wide eyes "Rory what are you thin-"

Rory the reaper just jumped down screaming "Emroy needs to meet such a devoted follower!"

"Rory!" Scream Itami in vain.

The little reaper was charging towards a force he doesn't understand. He doesn't know if he can even help the girl. He would be opening fire on a neutral third party. As a squad commander he doesn't have the authority to give, but what Mercury told him made him wonder. She said the guy killed a lot of people but from the look of it, the reason could be because he was just doing his job.

He saw demi-goddess landed with an enthusiastic giggle. She started to sprint with superhuman speed. It only took seconds for her to reach the man and ready her axe. Once again he saw him raise his rifle with surprising agility and fired. The bullets didn't hit the goddess as they were deflected by her axe. It didn't stop the man from unloading his clip. It was futile, he couldn't connect a single shot and the girl was nearly ready to swing her axe.

Then a blur of desert camo and the flash of green lighting interrupted them.

It was another guy in the heavy armor, but he was far more form-fitting and smaller. There was fewer plate on him and he held both a weird pistol and a hand-held chainsaw. The guy interrupted Rory from her attempt at killing the guy in green, with his gun. He fired a green ball of energy that nearly impacted the girl.

The newcomer just fired at Rory, letting loose with his gun, but met with the same results as his friend. There was one difference though. Every time his bolts made contact with Rory's weapon, it just splashes on it instead of deflecting. The guy continued to shoot at the goddess without stopping, then Rory charged. She seemed to have enough and is moving in to kill the interloper.

She could get the chance as a rifle round connected with her leg. Itami had a bit of trouble making it out, but he thinks it hit her ankle. He grimaced at the injury, he's never experienced one before, but he knows that an injury like that can easily cripple them. It's to the testament of Rory's healing factor that it only slowed her down.

The two took this opportunity to lay it on her.

They fired simultaneously at Rory and at different angle. Ensuring that they always landed a hit. Itami gritted his teeth. He wants to help Rory, but she has no right to. These guys are just defending themselves against an unprovoked attack.

He still didn't like it, so much that he didn't realize that his rifle was rising. Slowly the rifle was primed and aimed towards the head of the suited man. But at the last moment, he stopped. He noticed that the firing stopped. Rory was on the floor covered in blood and filled with chard craters.

They lowered their guns and walked towards Rory in attempt to get a closer look. He saw them study here bleeding corpse. They thought she was finally dead… No. She wasn't.

The wounds on the goddess started to rapidly heal and she slowly got up. Only to be gunned down again. They stopped when she stopped moving again and once again she raised from the ground. This time a squad of those heavily armored guys joined in and Rory fell again. This time though, they didn't stop.

They were fully convicted of killing her and he couldn't take it anymore. Itami gave the order. He gives a damn about orders anymore!

"Kuribayashi! Get the Humvees to aim at their guys on the wall and open fire. Anyone else grabs AP rounds and missile launchers and fire at their armored infantry!"

"Wha- Why?" Asked his Sargent Kuribayashi.

"Just do it!" Itami screamed.

He aimed his rifle and fired at the green man. The round nearly hit him, but somehow the green man noticed him and was able to move out of the way. He just fired at them, only caring to grab their attention and hoping to draw attention away from Rory.

It worked as most of the fire was now aimed at him. He ducked down pinned. His radio came to life.

A gruff old voice came through. "Permission to open fire on the unknown force."

His reinforcements had finally come. "Aim for the ones in heavy armor!"

"Roger." was all that was given and the sound of blaring guns dominated the air.

[Italica Fields]

The Courier was pissed. He had an open window to meet the green guys before any diplomats got their hands on them and a weird regenerating little girl starting her axe towards me. Then their verti-birds started firing on them. How in the hell did he provoke them! He saw them watch the girl reform from plasma blast and they found it weird that they defended themselves! Well, fuck them.

He saw the choppers open fire on the knights and paladins and nearly shredded them. Thanks to the armor upgrade they were able to withstand a small amount of sustain fire, most of them were able to get out of the way, but a few unlucky knights were too slow. Lucky the retaliation was swift. Plasma guns melted their hauls easily enough, but the miniguns were having trouble.

Lucky for them, 101 had an idea. "Knights! Aime for their tails and bring their birds down."

The brotherhood soldiers followed her commands without hesitation and aimed at the tails of these machines. There must have been an effect because they started laying off. They had to concentrate all their fire on the birds, which leads to the question. Where are there heavy weapons teams? I was about to radio in when I got a transmission. "Were under fire here and suffered heavy losses!" It was lucy.

"Is it the green people?" I asked

"Yes, those bastards got the drop on us, we were planning on joining you in taking down that freak of nature when suddenly they open fire! We need back up!"

I had to make a choice here. All I had left to send in were the verti-birds and he needed them to help them against the enemy air force. He did have the deathclaws. He didn't want to expose them to the bloodshed, but he didn't hesitate. "Smiles, Rosebud, and Pearly whites go help the troopers." A Roar of confirmations was all that I was given and the thundering of their charge.

They would have to retreat very soon. Once they open up a hole in their defenses they will need to run. He just isn't very confident in this plan though. We definitely can hit harder, but these guys came in numbers and the heavy armor won't get here in a few minute to relieve them. The entire task force sent here is being decimated and it was all that girl's fault and her stupid healing powers. Oh, wait.

*giggles* "Oh my, is this one fine day."

I turned and I saw rookie standing in front of me, chain machete in one hand and a plasma pistol in the other. Guarding me against the immortal girl with the big ass axe. Oh, fuck my luck.


	6. Chapter 6

Broken hearts part 2

As I laid there on my ass, with helicopter assaulting the armored infantry covering our flank. My jacket, the rookie was the only thing standing between me and an immortal kid, who wielded a massive axe.

I had no idea on how to kill this thing and yet I have to. I turned to the rookie and gave my orders. "Keep that psycho kid distracted!" The soldier responded with action.

He rolled to the side giving the girl an open to assault me. I would have felt dread if I didn't know what he was planning.

I quickly reached for my 9mm at my thigh and aimed it at the girl. With the same dexterity she displayed last time, she spun her axe to create a sort of shield. The rounds just bounced off, harmlessly deforming at impact and doing no damage to her or her weapon. I let out a disgruntled sigh and lowered my gun.

She stopped spinning her weapon and raised her eyebrow. In a nanosecond, my lips formed a smirk and I was able to glance her widen eyes at my ruse. A six-foot-tall powered figure smashed into her side and the sound of crunching bones filled my ears. "That's good kid keeps breaking bones as they reform. We don't want an angry mutant on our hands eh."

The Rookie just nodded and brought an armored boot down onto a spindly arm. *crunch*

I wiped out my radio and tried making contact with 101. "Yo, I need to know if this is hopeless and we might as well retreat with our a bullet in our ass."

She responded with a winded voice. I could also sense an amount of frustration as well. "No! We have hope but we're going to need those heavy weapons teams to open fire as soon as possible. What the hell is there ETA on those verti-birds."

I gritted my teeth at what I had to do in order to give some relief to our guns. "The deathclaws should be taking out the heavy gun suppressing them. I just hope they don't hesitate in killing their first man. I just wish they had a few more years to enjoy their youth."

"My god man!" 101 said with unbridled fury. "They are nine feet tall genetically engineered killing machines! You should be hoping they don't eat the corpses! Now grab a plasma grenade and shove it down that emo kid's mouth and watch her atomize! And if she screams, I want you to record it."

My face contorted in confusion. "Why?"

This time her voice was low, not a deep bass low, but it was unnaturally calm for the situation. "So I can rock myself to sleep, hearing the bitch who cause this scream."

"Sure…" I just didn't want to dive deeper in that conversation.

"Hey, rookie. You got a plasma grenade on you." I saw him bring a foot down on a regenerating leg. Pretty much snapping it in half. The girl just poured out some words of gratitude and weirdly enough praise. She was speaking on how her god was going to reward me for this brutality. I sneered at the comment. I didn't if I was disgusted at the fact that was a god for this sort of thing, or this girl seemed to be taking this beating in stride.

I didn't matter as the rookie unhooked a grenade of armor and tossed it towards me. I caught it without much trouble and I dash towards the girl, I was stopped at a burst of fire towards my feet. I raise my head to see the same green dude from before fire towards me.

This seems also catch the attention of rookie and he moved in front of me. I second burst of fire quickly followed. Their rifle rounds merely bounced off his plate and I had to give it to this bastard. The green dude was able to distract my jacket from his duty.

The little girl soon got up from her injuries. They were regenerated in front of our eye's. Bone knitted together, muscle grew back and the skin came back pristine and without any signs of the beating, she was received.

She charged with her axe up high, ready to split me in half. Lucky for me, her obsession in brutally murdering me, blinds her to another surrounding.

Rookie intercepted her with a sideways swipe. His chainsaw machete grinding against the massive axe and causing a massive stream of sparks to fly off. They quickly parted and just as quickly regained. I saw my highly trained, cyber modified, elite trooper, fight to a standstill against a little girl with an oversized axe. I'd be disappointed if it wasn't for the fact that, we were most likely fighting an immortal satanic worshiper. Heh, maybe I can trick her in believing I was her god.

I jumped to the side as a burst of fire landed, where I was previously standing. I quickly drew the All American carbine marksman rifle. I looked through the sight and was able to quickly aim for center mass. I squeezed the trigger and a piece of lead quickly spiraled out of the barrel, moving at mark 3. I saw red fly out of him. Whether I killed him or not is still debatable, but I know I have knocked him out of the fight.

I turned and saw rookie still fighting against the little girl.

They were both a whirlwind of axe and machete. They both blurred in their movement, my augmented eye's noticing that they were both striking three times in a second. They were both landing blows but both fighters were receiving them differently.

The little girl was waving away from the chewing teeth. The thing barely nicked her, causing small cuts that would regenerate quickly. A few times I did see rookie land a good blow that would end the fight if it were a normal human. The girl just laughed it off and proceed to ignore it.

The rookie in the other hand was doing everything he had to avoid getting a direct hit from the axe. At worst he got glancing blow that would peel off a chunk of already thin armor. His jackal would stumble but quickly recover. It did show he was tiring.

I looked at the grenade in my pocket and I knew what I had to do. I slung All American on my back and drew Maria and grabbed the grenade. I kneeled and waited for a split second. I jumped into action as soon I saw a small opening. The girl had her back to me and I need to take advantage of it.

The rookie saw me and decided to follow my lead. He moved forward in an overhead strike. The girl used her axe handle to block it. The teeth locked on the handle but couldn't dig. In a second the machete's teeth started to unravel and the chain holding them together broke.

The girl knocked the ruined weapon of the rookie's hands and giggled at him. Her cock laugh soon disappeared when my barrel of my 9mm met the side of her jaw, a round of equivalent sized tore away the flesh holding the low half of her teeth to the rest of her skull.

Before she could react, I shoved the grenade down her throat that was unprotected by her jaw.

Before I could pull the pin and end this. I felt, what I could assume is a full metal jacket round impact my shoulder. It didn't mushroom or shattered like any other round, so it had to be. I fell onto my back, meeting the blue sky in an unexpected meeting. I didn't wait to gawk at its beauty and rose to a seated position.

"Injecting both a stimpack and med-x" Cutie responded in a worried tone. "Please don't die on me, I don't want to have another owner other than you."

I smiled and grabbed my pistol with my left hand from my limp right. It's going to take a little while before implants fix it. I looked at the area where the bullet most likely came from. I saw what I could assume is either a young looking boy or girl. I leaned towards the girl and aimed my pistol towards her. I unloaded rounds at her general direction and fired.

I was a good shot, hell better than most crack shots, but I could land a target from that far away with a handgun. I just hope they would whiz past her and she would instantly take cover. The result was that they all flew past and I knew she had her rifle trailed at my head.

The rookie was moving at my general direction. I didn't want him to save me. Instead, I wanted him to finish the job with the girl, who was still attempting to remove the explosive out of her throat. Her healing powers most likely repaired the damage done to her jaw and it trapped it in her throat. At least I knew he stupidly overpowered regeneration bought us a few seconds. Still, I needed the rookie to detonate the weapon. I even aimed my gun at her the last second, hoping he got the message.

Instead, I get the image of his powered armored back facing me and the sound of rounds bouncing off his armor again.

I felt the bullet that entered my shoulder, pop out. I a quick lighting motion I drew All American out and lead out of my human cover, Already had the scope aimed at the woman's head and I fired.

I knew I got a hit when I saw a large spark and then form of the woman falling backward. I tried switching to the back of the neck of the girl, in hopes of the bullet penetrating the meat and hitting the grenade. Detonating it and finally ending this outdrawn fight. But… I could find her.

I wondered where she could be at until I heard the sound of metal tearing metal and warm blood coating me. I slowly raised my head to see the girl gagging out the grenade and tossing it aside.

She used the tattered remains of her cloth bracelets to wipe away the drool. "Hmph, you're lucky I don't have a gag reflex or you might have choked your partner with your toys." She said with a smile.

I jumped towards the grenade, firing the carbine at the same time. She just stood there and took it. Smiling at my futile actions.

I had to kill her and this grenade wasn't the easiest way to do it. I won't be able to shove it down her throat again. My best bet was to throw it at the right time and have it explode in front of her. I can't let her enter in melee combat with me because that would be a death sentence. My gunfire might as well be tickle her. This was a game of cat and mouse.

I readied myself and had a finger in the pin. The girl smirked and attempted to remove the axe at the still standing corpse of my man. Instead, she received two hands clasping her arm. The rookie was still alive. The kid was most likely drawing his system with stimpacks in order to remain alive, what's moving his limbs, must be an indomitable will.

I got up ready to make sure his action wasn't in vain but I saw his back glow. My eyes widen as I knew he was overloading his power armor generator and the explosion will leave fifty meters wide crater.

I just legged it, moving with speed I didn't even know I had. I turned my head to see what the girl was doing. I saw that she was set on fire by the heat radiating off the most likely dead rookie's armor. At least he was dead, I would want him boiling himself inside his own armor.

The girl was still struggling against the man's grip. Her form was now completely burnt at this point. Leaving her body to still move even though that was not possible. Her arm finally gave in and is separated from her body from the socket. She was finally able to run but her injuries slowed her significantly.

She only got a dozen meters away before the armors generator went critical and exploded with the power of a tiny sun.

I fell forward, the heat washing over my body. I was able to make it out of the blast zone by a few meters but it didn't stop it from burning me. I impacted the ground with burnt flesh that varied in severity.

The ammo and grenade didn't detonate thanks to pre-war engineering. If large atomic bomb couldn't set them off, then a fission generator explosion would fare little better. I laid there in pain, my implants going into overdrive to heal my injuries and Cutie injecting cocktails of drugs into my system to keep me awake and healing.

My durable radio crackle on. The voice of smile's the intelligent deathclaw came through. "Were on the tails of the mooks, ya dig?" He said with the lingo of the tops. He always loved their singing shows.

I was able to rasp out the order. "Rip and tear. Make these guys pay for costing me."

The radio responded with a beastly roar.

[JSDF defensive position]

Kurokawa was in the back of the armored jeep, attending the bullet wounds of both Itami and Kobayashi. Her Lt. was in the corner, his arm bandaged from a bullet wound. He was surprisingly ill by the injury. It was a few minutes of attending his injury was when she discovered that is was irradiated rusty full metal jacket round.

For now, she stabilized her CO but Kuribayashi was another matter. The bullet penetrates her steel plate and now the bullet fractured into her friend's stomach. She already pulled most, if not all the fractured pieces and was currently treating the injury. She's just afraid that her friend might have lost too much blood.

Then she heard it. A massive sounding explosion.

It was loud enough to drown out the sound of the machine gun suppressing the newcomers. She almost slipped up and spilled the entire bottle of disinfectant into her friend. She gave a sigh of relief but it was short-lived as she heard a roar.

She saw a massive clawed reptile appear out of nowhere behind pops, who was manning the machine gun. It reached out with it a massive clawed hand and yanked pops out of the gun. He screamed in panic and soon in pain. The thing smashed him against the truck over and over and then grabbed him with both clawed hands. It just snapped him in half. He squadmate scream one last time before he fell silent.

That thing then threw him at the front windows of her truck, with enough strength to shatter the window completely.

She reached to her side and grabbed for her rifle. She quickly brought it up to bare but the thing disappeared once again. She didn't know where it was going to pop up until she heard screaming and tearing flesh.

She quickly spawns around and aims her gun. She hesitated once she saw what was happening.

There was three of them this time. They were intermingled between people, swinging their claws haphazardly, killing someone every time they did so. Civilian and soldier alike were ripped apart in their wake. Every time a soldier fired their rifle and made a shot, it either bounces off their steel-like skin or did next to no real noticeable damage. Then the beast would kill them. One soldier who was far enough away fired his gun in hopes to kill the thing. The bullets did next to no damage and then the monster did something she would never forget.

It opened its jaw wide open and it revealed a sort of device that looked a bit of a tiny radio disk. She heard a weird vibration from it, almost something out of an old sci-fi movie and it shot out a wave of visible sound. It flew towards the soldier, screeching as it did so and when it made an impact against his head. It causes his skull to explode in a mist of blood and gore.

She hesitated still. She was a combat medic meant to a healer first and a soldier second. If she open fire and it would do nothing and bring the attention of the monster towards her. She didn't know what to do.

That was when the door to her jeep swung open and Kurata sat in the driver seat. He turned the key to the armored car and started it. Without hesitation, he started driving, smashing her against the rear doors and throwing the limp corpse of pops off. Itami didn't fare any better as was thrown onto the floor alongside with Kuribayashi.

She rose her head to talk sense to the private. "What are you doing, our squad is back there!"

"They are already dead! We can't do anything against those things! Our guns can't even scratch them. I'm getting out of here and I'm not dying like the rest. I'm going to live with my body whole!" Kurata said with a voice on the verge of tears.

Kurokawa knew they should turn back and help their teammate but… those monsters would have ripped them apart. No. She can't panic as well. She could at least check if anyone in her squad was still alive. She took her radio out and spoke.

"Recon team three is anyone still alive! Recon team three, please respond." The radio only gave static and her heart sank. She just looked at Kobayashi and move to tend to her wounds.

[Heavy weapons teams: Italica's walls]

The screams that came a few minutes past has stopped. Then she heard triumphant roars that came from massive throats filled the air. The pet deathclaws of her boss most likely finished off the lot who were pinning them down.

He thoughts moved to assessing the damage of the beaten platoons. Then she realized her allies were holding off the flying enemies assaulting them. Their own verti-birds fell back to resupply and grab reinforcements, as soon they have dropped us off. For now, they were left without any support. She grabbed the radio from her belt and gave the command. "Anyone capable of commanding, organize your squads and get these guns firing. Get the heat off our boys in power armor!"

A whale of confirmations responded to her. The men and women who made up the platoons and the odd ghole moved quickly to man their stations.

Any weapon of the range was maned and was put to use immediately. 50 cal. Bullets were fired towards the green factions verti birds that carried their troopers. Firing into the compartments and hopefully hitting a target.

However, the flamers and riot shotguns were practically useless in the fight. The soldier could do was load up the slugs and carefully fire single shots towards the flying vehicles. The laser weapons were another matter.

After she was attached to the courier as a companion, she was taught quite a few things about weapons and armor. She learned that ceramics were best at disbursing energy based weapons. When she asked it was because metals kept in the heat and started melting after a few shots.

She quickly formulated a plan and radioed into her troopers. "Marines and vegas swords alike, if you hold a laser rifle or laser RCW, concentrate your fire on their tails."

They followed the command without delay. The swords responded the fastest. Their veterancy in fighting the tunnelers makes them adept at reacting in split seconds do or die moments. The marines fire was far more disciplined. Hitting their target in a smaller circle of spread.

The damage was starting to take effect. The verti-birds that they were targeting started in increase height and allow their cargo room to breath. This did give their heavier armed cousins that held missiles and multi-barreled machine guns to aim their guns towards us.

My eyes widen at the sight and I screamed to get to cover.

I was able to get to the stairs and duck my head but most men and to cover themselves with the stone battlements. Then the enemy birds open fire with machine guns and explosives alike. The large caliber rounds tore through the stone and shredded dozens of troopers. The missiles in the other hand rocked the walls and outright destroyed entire sections.

The things kept firing until the destined sound of explosive plasma cut them off.

Then I heard the whining of blades and sputtering of engines. After that, the loud smashing of armored plates signaled our cue to come back up.

I moved quickly to gain a glimpse. I saw the brotherhood paladins and knights frantically loading another plasma motor into their back-mounted grenade launcher and I saw the remaining armed green verti-birds turn to open fire on the vulnerable brotherhood soldiers. Their lighter variants started descending.

She gritted her teeth. Her groups lost weapons in the previous barrage. She was completely useless in the current situation.

No.

She may be new to this whole commanding thing but the fight hinged on this moment. She had to do something.

Her troopers joined her, the remaining ones at least. They were looking to her for commands and she didn't know if she had them. Ever since the commanding officers died when they were first suppressed. She was forced to take command.

She had only one choice. "Anyone left alive, grab use your laser weapons and fire towards the green verti birds about to open fire! Anyone without one, grab one from the dead!"

With that, she condemned her troops to death. They would most likely gain the attention of the heavily armed birds and the ones carrying the infantry compliment would finish them off, but she knew the brotherhood soldier were key in surviving the battle.

The men followed their orders and started firing at the same manner they have last time. Aiming down the tails and hoping to do enough damage to make the enemy rethink their course of action.

They didn't, instead, they continued to turn and aim their weapons to the Brotherhood soldiers. She looked around her and found a vegas pattern RCW, she armed herself with it and took aim. When she fired there was no recoil and the laser was pinpoint. The beams struck the tail and the added heat was enough to strain the mechanisms to their limits. A loud clunk sounded and large amounts of smoke burst out the vehicle's tail end and the machine started to spiral out of control.

The thing moved towards its fellow verti birds and nearly crashed into one, but it was able to jink out of the way in the last second.

It crashed on the ground, kicking up mounds of dirt. It dragged itself leaving a scar on the earth until it came to a stop.

The lightly armed very-birds carrying their troops started to send a small contingent of them to the down vehicle. Their cousins started to move aim guns to the brotherhood soldier but a small figure rose in a pillar of fire and landed on top of one of them.

She knew who it was.

101 must have jumped on one of the last three armed birds, to buy a second more and boy was she wrong. The brotherhood elder instead, swung her power hammer into the cockpit of the machine and shattered the armored glass with ease. She reached in and pulled out a pilot out of his seat and tossed him aside. She then started to reach in to grab the second man out but the green verti-bird started to spin.

The last two remaining green verti bird moved away, to make sure they weren't clipped by its teammates tail. A mistake as they both went up in green plasma. The Knights took the opportunity to knock both of them out of the sky.

The men cheered for a second until they came under fire by the last remaining birds. These ones only had troops and a few miniguns to harass us, what did worry me was 101 and her act of bravado.

I was only able to get one last glimpse of her throwing the last pilot off before I ducked down.

The bullets pounded the cover we had and a few large caliber rounds punched the stone to nearly impact our already beaten platoon. She was forced down and unable to peek out. She no longer can do anything fight these things. She can only hope that the courier was still out there, that bastard always had an out.

[The families in front of Italica]

The courier watched the green verti-bird that 101 boarded go down with her. He doesn't know if she is still alive and he has to check later. The last remaining troopers were pinned down again and the brotherhood soldier was too loyal to their elder to provide any form of assistance.

Man, that pissed him off, those bastards should pull their heads out of their asses and help their buddies. Then again, they are the brotherhood. You only had to know the name, to understand what they thought about anyone outside what they thought of outsiders.

"I know what you are thinking and I don't believe you have anything on you that can bring those verti-birds down." Chimed Cuite.

"Heh, I knew I should have brought my gauss rifle," I said with some amount of guilt in my voice.

They didn't have much time left before the guns finished them off. He notices that out of the four of them three broke off to target the Brotherhood soldiers. They must have noticed what was the bigger threat.

I stood up in pain as my body may have healed but not enough to remove the pain. I grabbed the radio and warn the brotherhood of the impending action the green faction was planning to do.

With that, I turn to the remaining bird that was suppressing my troops. I grimaced at what I had to do.

I drew all American once again started sprint towards the single green verti-bird. I had no idea what I was planning to do. I was formulating a dozen plans in my head. I thought of going to the downed armed green verti-bird and grab one of its missiles. I quickly threw that plan away. Might be able to grab one of the downed knights miniguns and using it. Then I remember that people in power armored barely could fire it in a stable platform. The plasma guns were stuck on the arms so that was out of the question.

I just resided myself at shooting the damn thing with all American.

I aimed the rifle towards the passenger compartment and aimed for the troopers inside. I saw three I could hit with my rifle and two more behind glass. I started firing, I let out one round aimed towards the leg of a soldier and once it impacted him, he fell to the floor screaming in pain. The two I could see turned to return fire but I was able to take the first one down with a round to the shoulder. The second I didn't have time to respond so I activated V.a.t.s.

The electronic single stimulated my brain and with the active upgrades of cutie, it was further enhanced. I was able to get percentage above eighty at over sixty meters.

I let out a volley of and most of them did miss but a single round impacted the man's chest.

Without any more human targets, I decided to see what kind of damage I could do to its fragile areas. I let out multiple rounds into the windows but the bullets only bounced off without any considerable damage. Then I aimed for other parts of the bird only to be met with the clink of the round bouncing off armored plating harmlessly. I test other areas of the armor, attempting to find a weak point but I ended up wasting ammo.

My hands tightly gripped my rifle in frustration. He had no areas that he exploits to take the metal beast down.

He had nothing in form of a plan and he was running out of time. Then a strained voice cracked through his radio. "Careful, that birds are coming down in atomic light."

I had to raise an eyebrow at that. Then I realized what she meant and my body went into overdrive. My legs started moving as fast they possibly can. My heart started to beat faster and pump blood across my system. My muscles were given extra blood in my sudden sprint.

Then I heard the crackle in the atmosphere and a slight change in the night's temperature.

I spotted a lance of blue atomic compressed light, arc across the sky. Once it impacted the green verti-bird it causes an explosion. It left a massive chunk missing from it and an emp wave from the hit fried any remaining electronics. The flying vehicle smashed onto the ground completely wrecked.

I tracked the beam back to its point of origin and from two hundred meters away. I found a massive multi-legged tank. I've seen one from Big .M but this one was armed to the claws. Beside it was a unit of brotherhood tanks aiming their plasma cannons. The remaining green verti-birds are in their sights.

I saw the war machines fire three miniature green suns at blurring speeds. Each one made impact and melted the green vertibirds and soldier alike. Then, they exploded in a blinding ball of light.

My arms, in reflex, moved to shield my eyes from the blast.

Once the sound of explosion died down, I removed my arms and took in what happens. Most, if not all of the green factions forces were wiped out. If any of the troopers survived they'll be unable to do any real damage. That is if they haven't already retreated and move to tell their masters of us.

I let out a tired sigh and looked towards the horizon. The heavy armor moved towards us in force. Commonwealth APC,s threaded behind them holding more troops to help reinforce them. Well, they'll have to do it on their own now. The original force is nearly decimated. He'd have to get a head count and ask 101 if she'll be able to lend a hand. Speaking of which. He grabbed the radio and brought it up to his mouth. "Yo, are you still alive. If so get off your lazy ass and help me introduce myself to the leadership."

101's response was… less than friendly. "WHAT! Don't you dare bring up that tone with your elders! Especially after they took a fall in a burning bird to SAVE, your squads! I am your eighteen years older than you and have eighteen years worth of respect more than you!"

The courier just shuts off his radio for a moment so 101 can cool off. She never liked being poked fun at after a heroic injury. Her pride always irked him, but her pride was why she was able to command respect for her soldiers. It was also something he feared of her. He knew there were limits to her patients and in his laps of judgment, he broke it. Lucky it was just an ill-timed comment when she was already injured.

She won't let it get in the way, at least he hopes so. He waited a few minutes until he reactivated radio. She was still ranting. "Can you ever show any restraint when someone isn't in the mood! I should drag you by the balls into the sparring ring and beat you blue!" She let out a sigh of relief and continued. "That's better. Now you were talking about meeting the mayor of this fine city."

I was somewhat surprised at her quick recovery "Really, you had a verti-bird drop on you and you get up like you just drank a fresh cup of coffee?"

101 snorted at my observation. "I'm wearing power armor and I landed on top of the bird. I'm fine. Which is good since we just grabbed two sample for 111 to study. Mine is somewhat intact and if I had too. I could probably rebuild it with the proper engineers. The one your tribal girl took down has its tail melted but in better shape than mine. Its pilots were rescued by the lightly armored ones. They are long gone now."

I dismissed that quickly "Eh, our spies should be able to gather enough information on their own. For now, I wanna know if your coming."

She juggled that offer with a dozen other chores she needs to do in the aftermath of this battle. After a minute she gave her decision. "No. These people are scared and I am not good at working with scared people. I tend to lend to end up helping them, regardless of alliance. We can't afford that. You in the other hand are perfect for this. I'm giving my blessing leaving this to you."

I smiled at that. This means I don't have to hold back and I intend to let 101 know that. "Well, I bet smiles would love trying out his people skills."

101 was shocked at my comment. "What! You let those thing negotiate!"

I couldn't believe that 101 couldn't see the advantages of talking deathclaw. "Hell yeah, I do! Who's the best at getting us what we want from people? A nine-foot-tall radioactive dinosaur with a voice smoother than a silk, that's who!"

101 could only grunt at my understanding of people. "You know what. Just don't fuck up. I'm going to tend the aftermath. I'll also love it if you leave Lucy with me. She's grown quite talented in making split-second decisions and I'll like to talk to her about performance in her."

I had no objections. "Alright, go at it. Just tell her to reattach herself to my squad when we're both done."

I clicked off. I had a single last glance to the field before him and spotted a glint in the rising sun. It was the axe of the little girl. It was nearly spotless. The only indicators of any battle damage are the suit it's covered in and the melted saturnite on its blade. It took rookie overloading his generator to stop the girl and her axe is okay. He wonders if she survived. If she did then she must be pissed and very resilient. If he can't kill her in atomic fire, then he'll have to atomize her. It was a possibility. He could ask 101 for an alien pistol and that would do it. At least that's what he hopes.

I moved to grab the little girls axe. She must be someone important. Taking the axe as a trophy will definitely give me some weight in the negotiating table.

Once I reached it, I grabbed its handle and tried lifting it. It was heavy as it looked. I just straighten my back and lifted with my legs. I swung it across my back and position it at an angle to be easily carried.

Cutie chimed in. "Your luck you have implants, anything less and you would have thrown out your back. Then you'll be stuck in a bed and I'll be left in your locker forgotten."

I smiled. "What! No, I'll just toss you in the washing machine and put it in the spin cycle."

Cutie gasped in what sounded like horror. "You very much know I'm only able to be hand washed. Anything else would ruin my stealth fibers."

I chuckled at her reaction. "Hehehe, kidding. Anyways we should go meet the owners of this fine establishments." I said while turning to the city. I had to wonder what exactly they are going to think of my methods.

[Mansion of Italica]

In a small, nearly bland throne room. Sat a young duchess of the city. Next to her was one of the terrified princesses of the empire. Servants and the remaining Rose knights surrounded them. They have all retreated to this room to both hide from the demon army and to show reason to the young duchess.

"Please, you must flee with us! You don't know what this beast will do to you!" Princess Pina screamed in fear.

"I can't. I the leader of my people and I would only slow you down." The duchess said.

The words touched Pina. She may be only a few years old but she is acting like nobility. She had potential. The kind of potential they'll need to rebuild the empire if they survived this war. Then she bit her lower lip. Survival. That words sounded more and more like fantasy.

She gave a look to her mentor grey for any support. He had his arms locked together, staring intensely at the two. He did so for a second and only shrugged.

The princess knew this was bad. It was of utmost importance to get the duchess out of the city as soon as possible. She didn't know which army won but, either way, they'll both by coming for blood.

She sent the JSDF into the thickest of the battle and hope they would have been able to slow down bandit army. They seem suspicious of them but she promises that the bandits would have been all they faced. Then those demons attacked. Now it seems she sent them there to an ambush. Wose of all, they had an apostle, Rory the reaper.

The demons in the other hand would do everything to make them suffer and probably more. Those things always thrived in the suffering of others.

She gave a worried glance to the door. She was worried about the forces of either faction bursting in and assaulting them. She was determined to get the Dutchess Myui to the capitol.

"Listen, we cannot leave behind anyone of importance. You'll be crucial in rebuilding Italica when we recover it with the armies of the empire at our backs." Pina said without any confidence in her words.

The princess didn't believe that even if they had a hundred thousand men at their commands, they would be able to take the city back. Not when those people commanded iron pegasus or armored ogres.

The Dutchess Myui was about to respond but the screams of Norma and Hamilton sounded through the doors. Then there was rustling of bodies and then silence. Everyone stood in silence for a few tense seconds.

Then something impacted the heavy wooden doors and they were thrown off their hinges. They reached to the feet of the Dutchess and she jumped on her seat when they did. Everyone else readied in a battle stance. Their swords were up, ready to fight off whatever monster that came to attack them. What they saw was exactly what they were expecting from a demon army.

It was large and covered in dark red scales. With two massive black horns protruding out of its thick skull. Its body was lean but very muscular. Its arms followed this pattern but they were also long, longer than they proportionally should be. They ended in massive clawed hands covered in dried blood. But all of these features pales compared to its face. There were large sharp teeth being covered by closed lips. A metallic object seemed to be stuffed down its massive mouth, but none of the group could get a proper angle on it. What was disturbing was the scar. It was two large cuts, formed at the ends of the jaws and then extended to horns of the beast. It almost looked like a massive smile.

Then came in three men.

The first two had staffs like the ones the JSDF used. They also dressed Simerly but these ones had visible metallic plates. Their faces were covered in glass visors. Pina and her knights looked perplexed at this. These were obviously men. Then they saw the third.

He was covered in what looked like cotton clothes. He had a chest piece that must have been armor. He looked normal for outworlders standers. He would have been if it wasn't for his head. It was smooth, with a round object where the mouth should have been. Strange ropes were attached to this round object. Then came the big green glowing demonic eye.

Then every empire soldier and civilian in the room froze. He was carrying the Axe of Rory across his back. It was being held in one hand and in the other was her two knights. Norma and Hamilton were dragged by their colors, unmoving…

The man stopped and tossed the two to the feet of the Pina.

"I believe these two are yours." He said deadpan.

The princess looked at the man with complete disbelief. Out of everyone that she had to face, it was the demon king himself. Those giant green eyes and the fact he defeated a demi-god proves it. How else could he be holding that axe?

The demonic king turned to the horned beast and in the language of the empire, he spoke to it. "Well Smiles, I'll leave the talking to you."

It nodded its head and opened its massive maw. "Who is the leader of this city."

Everyone was dumbstruck. None of them believe that this monster would speak. They all thought it was another monster meant to guard its master. They were wrong and now one of them has to step up to speak to such a monster.

Pina turned to the eleven-year-old Dutches and found her in a ball. Shaking in fear at the sight of the beast. Her courage was completely shattered and now it was up to Princess to settle this matter. She swallowed hard and stepped up.

"I am Princess Pina Co. Lada. The eleventh daughter of Emperor-" The monster cut her off by waving its massive claw.

Then it spoke again in a claim tone. "We know that the girl in the chair is the leader of this city. I just asked to be polite. You don't have to give me your entire backstory.

Pina was completely caught off guard by its lax posture. Then it continued. "Heh, this is where I'm going to be firmer. Right now the autocratic nation of new vegas owns this city. If any of you have any objections then let me assure you… You don't. You're all happy about your new leadership and you're all excited about the future of this fine state of affairs."

Pina was about to speak up but the beast cut her off. "If anyone wants to correct that fact, then we have a problem. The Nation of New Vegas cannot recognize that train of thought. If we cannot recognize it when we have to correct it. If we have to correct it, then we're going to need to…" The beast flicked its hands and its claws "Erase it. You dig people." It said in an extra low tone.

No one stepped up to correct the monster.

The Courier smiled under his cowl. It was time for step two. He walked up had placed his free hand on his hip. "Great how about a bow to seal the deal."

The group was about to protest but then the massive intelligent demons lizard growled. Almost in a flash, everyone seem to think it was a fine idea and they got on their knees.

The courier smiled and then walked to the seat where the Myui was seated. She got off and also got on her knees. The courier nodded and walked to the throne and sat on it. "Good." He said.

"Then let's get to work in rebuilding this city. Bigger, flasher, better and with some New Vegas Flash, you dig!"

No one native to the get got that last part.


	7. Chapter 7

**All feedback it welcomed. Oh and this chapter is 3k words longer. I hope you enjoy it.**

Dried Blood- Chapter 7

Lt. Itami feels like he drank a gallon of polluted sludge. His body ached as if the pain was a new concept and it was going nuts. He was in so much pain he almost didn't notice he was in a hospital bed. He wishes he still asleep.

"Your ass is fucking grass," Yanagida announced to Itami.

Well shit. Itami thought.

"Hey, Yanagida. How's life been treating you." Itami said in a calm tone.

"You damn well know what's happening. You fired on an unknown!" Yanagida nearly screamed

"I know," Itami admitted with a ping of guilt in his voice.

"Worst of all you did it to help your friend who isn't affiliated with the JSDF. We could have left the blame solely on her." Yanagida said.

Itami frowned at that comment. He thought that was low. She may have attacked while unprovoked but she was still his friend. Then he realized he doesn't know what happened to her. He was shot before he could see the conclusion of that fight.

"Where is Rory?" Itami asked.

"That's not what's important. You're going to get Dishonorably discharged if you don't spit out a good reason why you shot!" Yanagida told Itami.

"I don't care what happens to me, what about Rory," Itami demanded.

Yanagida let out a tired sigh. "She's outside. I do have to comment that she did so naked. I don't know why but we gave her a spare uniform.

Itami raised an eyebrow at that. "Wait, what?! Did you asked her?"

"Yup. She said her body was completely burned away an explosion. I don't believe her but you know this place. It has a lot of surprises." Yanagida said.

"Can I talk to her?" Itami asked.

"You know you're going to be given the boot right?" Yanagida told Itami with a surprised tone in his voice.

"Meh, I only took this job to support my hobby anyways." Itami told him.

"You know we detained her," Yanagida said.

"Could you?" Itami asked.

Yanagida frowned. Without saying a word he turned towards the door and gripped the doorknob. Once he twisted it he quickly stepped aside as a pack of girls burst through. Lelei and tuka fell face first. Rory in a military uniform landed on top of them. The small pile of girls then rose their head to look at their injured friend.

"Papa!" Tuka said.

"Mr. Itami," Lelei said.

"Itami," Rory said.

The three of them screamed. Itami smiled at his friends. Not because they were worried about him. That they waited outside until he awoke. No, it's because he found it adorable the way they fell on top of each other. Still, he needed to answers.

"Hey everyone. It's nice to see guys but I need to speak to Rory for a minute." Itami asked.

Yanagida fixes a glare towards the injured trooper. "Oh if you're going to ask her why her answer was that God asked her to do it."

"I can speak for myself boy." Rory interjected.

"Yeah, that's not what I'm going to ask her. I want to ask why is the man in green interesting to her god." Itami said.

"People of the Special region named him the demon king." Yanagida corrected.

"Really? That's kinda corny." Itami commented.

"Well, specialists did find a lead that he's called the English version number of six." Yanagida explained.

"So were facing people that have a link to our world?" Itami asked.

"Yes we have a mystery on our hands but you asked about my god?" Rory said

"Right! Your god is one of war thievery and pretty much everything bad right. Why did Emory think that six guy is a good follower?" Itami asked.

"Oh, he isn't a willing follower. He's just a man who embodies Emory. In your terms, he's a very bad man." Rory said with a slight amount of disdain for the description.

Yanagida now interested in what Rory is saying asked a question. "Exactly, what kind of bad is he?"

Rory put a finger to her lip. "Well, There's the parts I understand. He's killed off entire cultures. He backstabbed allies. He slaughtered armies to a man."

Yanagida wasn't impressed. These things are not helpful. If they ever ended up talking they could deny or cover up that evidence. Regardless he continued listening to Rory. "Then there are the parts I don't understand. He twists the flesh of people and turns them into demons. The man as six is controlling people's minds with noise? I don't know how's that possible but these are strange times."

Now, this is something that interest Yanagida. Those sound like awfully illegal activities. Still, he needed something big. He may not be close friends or even friends with Itami, but he needs to steer blame away from the JASF in this first contact. "This last part is just weird. The voices made him sound like a god they way they spoke of him." Rory commented.

"Wait, what? I think he's just a really bad guy. If he was a god then we'd be screwed." Itami told Rory in a confused tone.

"I know but Emory's voices were very clear. They said that the man would harness the power of the atom. The very building blocks of life and reshape the land into his old home." Rory said without understanding what she said.

Rory may not have understood but the two Japanese men did. Itami's calm and lazy face twisted into one of horror and disbelief. Yanagida was leaning towards the doorway. They both knew what Rory was talking about. They knew she was talking about WMD. The worst part was the way she was saying it. As if these people already used them in a war. Yanagida ran out of the room attempting to warn his superiors as fast as possible. While Itami fell back with tears in his eyes.

Itami had many things going through his mind. He wondered if he could outrun it if he moved quickly. If Japan could survive a third explosion in its capital city. He wondered if his friends would be okay. Most of all, he wondered if this man was as bad as Rory said he was.

* * *

[City of Italica]

The courier sat in front of at a masterfully crafted dining room table. It was around forty feet long and made of the finest wood six has ever seen. It probably could hold dozens of people. For now, it only held five. Lucy, smiles and himself represented the vegas side of things. The other two was the redhead princess, who looks like she's about to piss herself and the little girl who is remarkably calm. The courier had to chuckle at the fact that the little girl is handling herself better than a fully grown woman.

They weren't alone in the room. Multiple of guards and maids filled the room. He found it a shame really. They must be tired from standing up all the time and there was a massive table holding chairs.

The guards were the couriers. The Jackals stood tall, with tunnelers bones decorating their desert power armor. They held the new 12.7mm assault rifle. Design and produced by 111 himself. The courier wished he could use one, but without power armor, the recoil would rip his arms apart. Other than that the jackals just seem like demonic knights from another world with their glowing yellow lens.

The maids, on the other hand, were just a treat for six. Most of them held animal traits and are very polite. Well… polite in front of the courier. Whenever he turned his back their smiles would be turned into frowns. He knew this of course. He had plenty of experience in dealing with people he conquered and pissed off.

Princess Pina was just shaking like a chem addict and sweating a river. She was being held by the green-eyed demon king. She was in the dining room filled with demon knights and outright demons. If that monster wanted he could throw her onto the table and take her as their meal. The thought started to take over whatever train of thinking she was using.

The Duchess, on the other hand, was fascinated. The big reddish lizard demon looked like he was smiling. He was scary at first but he was really nice. He offered her a ride on his back like a gentleman. He's also very well spoken. If he wasn't rude in the begging she might just ask him to stay. He'd be far better than any pony she ever had.

Lucy was in the chair fidgeting in it. The courier tugged at her skirt to calm down multiple times, but the shrapnel wound was too painful. That or she was hungry for a meal. She's been handling the occupation like a teenage boy who just won the contest over his peers. Now she's lording her victory over the heads of the people she conquered.

Smiles were on an extra large chair. The courier was excited by the fact that it was made for lizardmen. The idea of a new species like those just sounded dandy Smiles just nodded politely towards the courier's fascination towards scaly creatures. The deathclaw really didn't understand the fascination with them. He thinks it might be because the courier always kept plenty of lizard pets.

The courier Just sat in his seat waiting. His brother released his demands and conditions. He had to spew this to his new subjects. He could be described as average in terms of charisma. The courier is capable of leading but he is no politician. So he rehearses what he had to say until dinner came. Hell, he was counting the second until this awkward could be broken. In fact, what's taking that Mr. handy so long? He leaned to the side of his chair and waved over a maid. This one had cat ears and she had a sly smile on her face.

The Catgirl told the courier in a polite and proper manner. "How may I serve you."

The courier her what he wanted. "Persia was it? Please go and ask Mr. Handy How much longer do we need to listen in this painful silence."

She gave the courier a stare for his words and nodded.

The Persia hurried out of the room.

She walked into the kitchen to met with her friends and co-workers. She was also met with the demons special friend. To the natives of the land, the thing looked weird. It was made of metal and it had multiple arms. The strangest part of it was its butt and on how it spewed fire out of it. When the catgirl walked into the thing, it seems to be finishing up on a meal. The other around him seems to be tired of their clothes stained with colorful unknown liquids.

Persia the catgirl talk to the thing with fire out of its butt. "Mister, I apologize for my disruption but your master wishes to know when the food will be ready?"

"Ah, Ma'am. I'm glad you got here. I have had the food ready to serve my master. I do have to say that these fresh ingredients are quite marvelous. I might even say I went off the rails in my cooking." The Mr. Handy said.

"Then again, the sanitary conditions of this kitchen is just appalling." The machine ranted.

"Thank you," Persia said with a bit of hidden annoyance in her voice.

One of her fellow maids walked up next her. "Don't be so nice. That thing made us scrub the walls with painful potions. Now I have a rash on my arm that burns like hell."

Persia just gave a nod and moved to get the food ready.

The maids surrounded the table with various amounts of cuisine. Each plate held a verity of food and drinks. There were elegant looking portions of lamb. while others had old fashion burgers with a side of fries. One plate just had massive chunks of meat covered in BBQ sauce. The fancy plates of lamb were given to natives of the world. They appreciated the familiar sight and smell of traditional plate. The burgers were given to six and smiles. They both loved the classics and they took advantage of the non-radiated ingredients. The Big ass plate of meat was placed in front of Lucy. The Small woman immediately dug in and ate the meal with machinelike efficiency.

Both of the Woman of the special region just stared. They weren't disgusted, they were just fascinated by the woman's ability to store so much in her small frame. The courier took this opportunity to make small talk. "Well, this looks lovely. I do hope that it is to your liking."

Pina couldn't take it anymore and just burst. "Throw the pleasantries. I know what you want! You want to turn the princess of the Empire into your personal meal! Is this why you brought me here with your demonic bodyguard! Do you plan on throwing me on the table and plan on taking me in front of a little girl? Well if your planning on doing it then just do it! But please let the dutchess go! She's just a little girl!"

Everyone watched the Princess standing up with extended arms. In her frenzy she knocked the old priceless chair over, damaging it. Everyone around her just watched silently. Wondering if the girl was serious or just mad. Smiles was shocked in mid-bite of his burger. The sauce starting to drip off onto the plate.

"... No. I was just planning to exploit your bloodline in my favor. I'm not at all planning on turning you into meal or doing it in public. But from this outburst, it seems like you were just dreaming about it." The Courier said with a slightly annoyed tone.

The Princess turned into a tomato red. "W what! N no. I was just. I mean…" She sat down with her hands on her face. Making a high pitch moan, most likely out of embarrassment.

"Okay, it seems the ice has been broken by our helpful princess. It's a bit annoying since I went out of my way to set this up and make you comfortable. Non-a-less I have announcements. Since we've conquered this neat city were planning on making it our own." The courier said.

"I don't understand? You've already conquered the city. Why do you have to take it again?" The princess asked.

"Shit right. Different language, different lingo. I mean we're planning on making new laws, new buildings, and new jobs." The courier explained.

"Oh, then why are you telling us?" The princess asked.

"Well, it's because of the dutchess. I'm going to be replacing her."

The little girl didn't make any audible objections. She just lowered her head in shame. The courier was a bit surprised. He didn't expect her to be silent. He expected her to burst out whining. Demanding that he take back on what he said. Welp, he won't look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Don't worry. When she grows up she can get into politics and petitions to be the governor of this city. Pending approval of my brother she'll be on the ruling seat. For now, will be sticking to a expect." The courier said.

Pina was curious about this new governor. Her hope is to learn to adapt to this government. She might have to throw away her earlier assumptions about demons. If fact these things don't act very much like demons in the first place. They could have taken her and when she screamed, they should have loved it. No, these things are cold in their actions. Almost with mathematical precision. She has looked into this.

"So who should be expecting?" Pina said while attempting to maintain composure.

The courier eyed her for a few seconds. The man wondered if he should disclose the information or not. She could be quite dangerous if left unchecked. Still, the governor being sent still requires some warning.

"The new governor is going to be a ghoul." The courier said. He was going to continue but he was stopped by a hail of gasps and protest from the natives. "Don't worry. He's very good and has over two hundred years of running large settlements. You'll all be fine." The courier continued.

"What if that thing thirst for blood or hunger for flesh!" Pina screamed.

"That's not how our ghouls work. They are like you and me but are afflicted by a skin condition and a bit of immortality." The courier retorted.

The native of the gate were going to continue their squabbling until he received a beep from his stealth suit. He moved to see the message from his pip-boy and smiled at was inside it. One of the magic boys they hired back then was coming and the were baring gifts.

He pulled out a needle out of his mask and punched the burger in front of him. The reactions of his personnel were neutral, but the native gave amusing reactions. The Princess and the little were practically hugging each in in horror and the maid was wide-eyed. When the chemical liquid started melting his meal, the native huddled closer. Then the sucking started to happen and squeals and gagging went rampant through the crowd. The slurping of the meal ended with the courier looking up and uttering a sentence.

"This is how I'm going to drink Y'all brains if you don't behave." Then he stood up and signaled his team to move. They were done entertaining the crowd. Mainly due to the courier's fears that he might break character. Rolling with the demon king title might be useful to hold for a little while longer. At least with the natives and it was working. As the princess had to revise her idea of these people being something other than demons.

His team and he left the princess and her maids behind. The five-man. The group moved through the halls of the mansion. The courier did order Smiles to stay behind and continue the briefing. He'll just tell his brother that he was the one who gave the list of demands. The courier started studying the large hallway. They pass the valuable works of art collected by the years. Something that New Vegas can sell for a good profit but that's for later. Lucy has given the courier a curious look while drinking her milkshake from a candy cane straw. The courier probably knew what this was about.

"It's the mask straw isn't it?" The courier asked.

"Well, at first I thought that was weird but I was eating so I didn't ask," Lucy said.

"It gives me a lord of the flies look. It sells the whole devil thing I'm going for. Plus, the straw purifies water, so cool. Right?" The courier reasoned.

"Alright, but where did you get it? I mean, those things are not lying around the wasteland and you definitely didn't find it here." Lucy said.

"From the commonwealth and their wealth of knowledge. Specifically from 111." The courier explained.

"You know, for a mad scientist who has the emotions of a calculator. You sure do trust him." Lucy said with some sass in her voice.

"I don't trust the guy. At least not enough to leave him with secrets but he's competent. For me, that's all I can wish for from another sentient being.

"Heh, it almost sounds like you do trust the guy." Lucy pointed out.

"Careful. The guy might be hiding robot spy bots somewhere. I don't what him to think we're buds and have him end up planing a play date." The courier corrected.

"Wait seriously?" Lucy stopped while saying it. Making the whole group stop abruptly.

"What? No!" The said in surprise. That would be way too mad scientist, even for 111. Then again he did end up killing his son and crew and taking over his organization. He also decided that wasn't enough and conquered all of the commonwealths. While at the same time creating new contraptions in his labs. Hell, even the think tank finds 111 a bit much.

"Now that I think about it, you should look out for robotic bugs." The courier told his companions

"OH come on! Those things are already creepy enough. Now I have to look out for them everytime I get need privacy." Lucy complained.

"A terrible fate to be sure but let's change the subject." The courier said while resuming the walk. "I spotted a few people from here with wasteland illnesses. Is that going to be a problem or are we going to get ready for an epidemic."

His Sergent was the first one to answer. They are quite talented in the art of information. In fact, when the Jackals are not defending their master. They are working in the shadows, either killing important targets or protecting secrets. Many rising legion warlords were cut done before they could become a threat. Whole tunnelers nest were raised to ashes and dealt a blow to their alien enemy. Whole NCR ranger assassin ploys were uncovered and stopped before they could take a single kill. These Jackals are second only to the courier in their defense of new vegas. Which is why only 15% of their strength is in the special region. While the rest defend their home.

"The followers of the apocalypse have already created a vaccine and are handing them to the public themselves." The sergeant told his boss.

"Really those guys. You know once the real war starts those guys are going to run to both sides and try to help. They're either going to get shot by us in the crossfire or get captured by the green people. Could you have found other people or even better use robots instead?" The courier complained.

"They interested in it. They are very wary of who asked them to do this for them." The Sergent explained.

"Great." The Courier said with sarcasm. "My bother had to be loved by everyone but the saints of the world."

That made Lucy raise an eyebrow. She knew plenty about the courier but his brother was a bit of a mystery. That and why would he be loved and yet hated by the people had had morals in the first place. "Okay, why are you making your brother sound like the devil? You don't have to keep the whole king of hell up with us you know." Lucy asked.

"It's because we've made a few decisions that aren't very popular but ended up helping people in the end." The courier said.

"What kind of decisions," Lucy asked almost like an innocent child would when asking their parents.

It somewhat annoyed the courier that she was so inquisitive, but then again he's just like her. In his travels, he would always ask about every little detail. He did it to all of his companions and friends. Hell, he did it to people he didn't even like. Well, he might as well tell her now. "My brother normally manages New Vegas while I'm off helping people in person. So a lot of decision fell into his lap. A few of them were... complicated, to say the least."

"Mind giving me an example." Lucy once again asked.

"There were small ones. Like putting in cleansing chemicals in the water. It cleans most water sources from germs and rads. When he told people, they went crazy. They accused him of trying to sterilize the population or causing birth defects. That kind of thing but it all blew over in a few weeks when nothing like that really happened. but that's the stuff people forgot. When he gave workers right to the public they cheered and praised the crap out of him. Then they learn that it extended to the prostitutes and that would raise their prices. That made them march in protest. We had to break the gathering with sound guns. To this day we still have a few fights break out about that." The courier explained.

"That doesn't sound like something good people would hate him for," Lucy said in objection.

"That was caused by a government change." The courier said.

"Wait, so New Vegas wasn't always an autocracy?" Lucy asked confused.

"No, we use to be a democracy and everything that came with it." The courier explained.

"What made you change it?"

"It started when we needed a solution to our power problem. As you know that came in the form of a Fusion power plant. That thing outputted so much power that it could keep the light on in every New Vegas home single-handed. It also powered our fabricators and factories. Once they started operating at 100% robots and material became next to dirt cheap. But we didn't enter a golden age. In fact, we entered into a recession. With the bots taking over the jobs, it practically killed the lower class. The worst part is that it started creeping into the middle class as well. Which will have left leave all the power to the rich and powerful. We could have returned back to normal either. These things were the only thing that fed our growing population and kept threats at bay." The courier started shaking his head and he removed his mask. Clipping it to his belt.

"When my brother told me that he was planning on reforming everything we worked for I was so mad. I wanted to smack him over the head and tell him to snap out of it. Then he told me about the situation we were in. That we had to ask our people for a great sacrifice. We had to ask for their freedom in exchange to feed them and defend them. We didn't force everyone to join us. We allowed entier chucks of them to become self-sufficient. They would live by themselves and feed themselves, but also defend themselves. They might have their freedom but we abandoned them to the tunnelers. To this day they are out there, fighting for there lives." The courier said solemnly.

"Hey lighten up. We have a way out now. This new land is perfect to help us in the future." Lucy told the courier.

"Exactly. If we take this place we can turn it into a safe haven. Which is why I have to do what is necessary if not this will end one of two ways. I will either end this with my death or I'll have to end it myself. Both of which will have a lot of bodies on both sides." The courier said in a deep tone. His complexion was serious as well.

Lucy hummed gently and started stroking her chin. Her face was almost mocking in its smirk. "Being all serious doesn't suit you. All this talk of steaks and death is getting to you. Are you scared? Sounds like it." Lucy pointed out.

"What?! The hell made you think that." The courier said.

"You've overthrown the tyrants that tried to take Vegas. Now here you are watching yourself become a tyrant yourself." Lucy tried explained to the courier. "I've read quite a few pre-war books on the subject. They always power corrupts and now I'm watching you fall for the same mistakes."

The courier gave the woman a smile. "Well well well. I didn't take you as a reader."

"Yup. I used to live in a library and had lots of time on my hands. I enjoyed my time in that place, well until the brotherhood of steel booted us out. But that's in the past." The little tribal women said with a skip in her tone.

"Well, thanks for the advice and I'll keep it in mind for the future." the courier flashed the women brief smile.

The trip to the courtyard was a quick one but long enough to dissipate the tension. The courier's followers realized something. He still hadn't told them why they are coming here.

The Sargent was the first to speak up. "Alright, I'll bite. Why are we here."

The courier turned to face him. His mask still at his hip. He gave a visible smirk and nodded towards a robed figure. The group was able to identify a wizard in a rune-covered clock. The figure was flanked by two soldiers of new vegas, each of them equipped with Vegas pattern laser rifles. Everyone but the courier looked at one another. Confused at the moment until they realized the figure was one of them. He was one of the magic casters for hire they employed a while ago. Then they all realized what the were about to get and smiled. The courier equipped his cowl and moved to intercept the wizard.

The courier was the first one to great the figure. "Welcome to my shiny new pit of sin! I'm six, the officer in charge here."

"I know who you are. Your the brother of the leader invading this empire. I'm Alzue Astral, here to deliver perfection."

The courier smiled under his mask. He had quite a few hopes for this world, one of them was this magic these people used. He didn't know much about it but the fact it could do pretty awesome stuff.

"So Alzue, what goodies do you think up of. I hope it involves some bitchin firepower." The courier asks ecstatic.

The man stepped aside to reveal a chest the size of a large mole rat. The courier steps forward and activated Cutie. The suit whirled into life and the program awoke in her usual moody way. "I don't like the dark. I feel alone in there." Cutie said in a deary tone.

"I know, but I cannot keep you on all the time. You take up a lot of power and I cannot fit a fusion generator in this thing." The courier said with some empathy in his voice. "Now I have some new toys wanna help out and log the statistics?" The courier asked.

"I'm a stealth suit meant to help you behind enemy lines. Not a secretary. But since I'm programmed afraid of abandon, I'll be happy to help." Cutie told the courier.

"Perfect!"

The Courier moved towards the chest and unlocked it. When he lifted the lid he found beauty incarnate. In the center was the MF Hyperbreeder Alpha, surrounded by other weapons of an equal rarity but the pistol is what he wants. The special recharger pistol glowed with magical energy. The corners of the courier's lips started stretching into a wide grin. He reached for the gun and his fingers wrapped around the comfortable handle. He raised the pistol and aimed it down but found no targets. He lowered his head and put the gun back.

"Alright, let's take these puppies out back and shoot some targets!" Six nearly shouted. His excitement was almost visible from his shine.

"Hell yeah! I'm gonna love my flaming powerfist!" The sergeant cheered.

"I wanna use my Bozar of true aim enchantment first. I wanna see those bullets curve baby!" Lucy said with bravado.

"Alright people. We can gush over our new guns at the firing line. Let's a go!"

"I see my talents are already impressing you. Be ready to further impress as my gifts know no bounds and my pockets have no limits." Alzue said.

"And we have bottomless gold to fill em with. Now get those magical feet moving." The courier said.

They all started moving towards the mansion. When they came near the entrance, the courier noted a few merchants but didn't seem dangerous. Still, they could attack. His Jackal with their 12.7 rifles would do short work of them so he wasn't worried. Then he noted a strange manhole cover in their path. His instinct told him It felt wrong. The sergeant noted this but was too late. The lid popped open and a few goblins jumped out. They all piled on the courier and dragged him to the floor far to quick to react. The powered armored men aimed their guns but were interrupted by a thrown rock from the merchants. These men were charging at them. With both sword and bow. That split second distraction was enough for humans to pool out the manhole and dragged the courier in.

The jackals were going to pursue but the mob charging closed the distance. Lucy was able to jump out of the squad and lay down some fire, but only dented the mob of angry citizens. The melee fight was one-sided. The power armor and the support from lucy would lay a heavy toll on the attackers. The five power armored men bashed and shot point black at the assaulting crowd of thirty men. All armed with primitive swords that couldn't penetrate power armor in perfect condition. Then the two guards of the enchanter joined in too. Though the fight was ending in their favor, the time it took worried them. For every second wasted on the rabble, the courier came closer to death without their support.

The troopers ponded the men and lucy fired at prime targets until the attacker was only six strong. Then the group realized their situation and tried giving up. Normally the Sargent would have given the order to fire but they were strapped for time and gave his orders.

"Cannibal, pyro. You two guard these fuckers." The sergeant shouted.

The man gave a hand signal and the other two fell into line. Forming a quick wage of three and covering each other's flanks. Then the man released the woman standing in front of the manhole.

"Lucy the hell! Get in there and help the boss!" The Sargent demanded.

"Listen closely," Lucy told the Sargent.

The man walked to the hole and did what she asked. He heard brutal fighting screaming. Various types of voices made it up but the couriers were definitely not one of them. The man turned to Lucy. "Alright, so he's kicking ass. It doesn't mean that his ass isn't getting whooped in return!" The Sargent explained.

Then the manhole cover slid open to reveal a beaten and terrified local. His injuries were ugly. He had large bruises on his body and chunks of flesh were torn off. His eyes were wide in terror. As if he was fighting a monster. Then he was pulled and let out a whimper. Then in a vain attempt to beg for help, he stretched a hand out for help. He was dragged screaming into the hole. He screamed as if he was being devoured. Only for it to be replaced with the sound of the pounding of flesh. Then the shattering of bones and finally with the sigh of the courier.

The Sargent understood now that the world has been holding the courier back. He's seen him like this was always when he fought off assassins. He would go in a rage and brutally beat them to death with either fist or weapon. Which was why he had bodyguards in the first place. As the NCR and legion never seem to run out of the fuckers.

A bloodied hand made a wet slap on the edge of the manhole. The courier lugged himself out the sewers. His face was twitching and bruised, his features were one of unbridled fury. It's almost an animalist rage tugged at their leader as he stared down wizard down. They could almost smell the fear emitting from the native. The fear was easily amplified by the fact that the courier was covered in blood and daggers sticking out of him.

"You! You're the only one who knew we were going to be here. Your the only one who could have told these people!" The courier raged.

"Wait no! I only wish to amaze you, not kill you!" Alzue pleaded.

"Do you know how annoying it is to be hunted every day! No matter where I go, no matter when it is, fuckers would attempt to kill me! Those NCR hit men always come cocky and warn me! Even though I'm standing in the mass grave of troopers! Then there is the legion. Those sons bitches either have horrible timing or perfect timing as they always come at the worst possible time! Hell, this one time They attempting to kill me while in my bathroom! Now I have to worry about this shit!" The courier ranted.

"L-look, I didn't say a thing. I'll even let you test me. I'll do anything. Just believe me, I never try hiring thugs." Alzue explained.

"Then how, how did they plan around my schedule." the courier asked.

"They might have used a seer. Someone who can see into the future." Alzue explained in a frenzied voice.

The courier calmed down for the time being. He didn't know much of this world so he might be telling the truth. He even offered to prove his innocence. Still, it might be a ploy. The courier did notice a sizable crowd form around them. This could be convenient for them.

"Aye, you might be right. But for now." The courier said while nodding. He gave a long scan of the crowd. "I have to lay down the law with these people. Sarg, bring the prisoners." The courier asked in a malicious tone.

The man obeyed and dragged the six men towards six, bond in cuffs and guns aimed. They were all lined in front of the massive crowd of bystanders. There were hundreds of them and every one of them had worried faces. To them, the invaders just massacred another group that outnumbered them. Now they are dragging the crying merchants towards the new lord of Italica. The demon lord walked toward them, with blood splattered across him and daggers protruding from his back.

"Fine people of the city!" Boom the courier in near-fluent Alnus tongue. "I've decided that I shall warn you about our new laws early. I have a variety of laws that are both familiar and strange. For example, we're both against murder and thievery." The crowd didn't react but a few faces did lighten up at the sound of consistency.

"Then again you might find it strange we have worker protection laws, where you have to be properly pained enough and cannot be overworked." The working men of Italica rejoiced at the sound of those words. The bosses and contractor of these men, however, threw their hands up in anger. Screaming at the unjust nature of these new laws.

"Slavery will also be banned and punished by those who make a living off it. This also means will be handling a lot of freed species. I expect them to be properly taken care off." This did catch the attention of the crowd. They started murmuring with one another. Confused by the statement. Then one started booing, then another and another and another. Until finally, the crowd was a chorus of disapproving throats.

A hail of automatic 50 cali. Into the air shut the masses up. Giving the courier the ability to continue. "Again, these new laws are many and I assure you they will only bring a golden age." The courier swung his arm out as if he was preparing to embrace them. "The lives of everybody will be greater than it has ever been. You'll see miracles of medicines, erasing deadly illness in days. Starvation will be a thing of the past and everyone will be able to pursue a dream of stable happiness." Everyone now was talking to each other, their tone was hectic and confused.

To them, this sounded impossible. These were demon men. Meant to hunt them and cause them suffering. At least, that what the stories said. None of them ever met one in person. None of them knew what to expect and this is what they were faced with. A creature of another world promising a bright future. They might be a new age. One where no man, woman, or child will need to suffer. And It's all thanks to otherworldly creatures that overthrew an already tyrannical emperor. A man who taxed them to the ground and forced them to work the land as farmers. Then he abandons them to the remnants of his armies. These creatures came in and swept the invaders away and now are repairing their city.

The crowd all started to think they were lied to. These demon men acted more like angels he bestows boons of food and mighty defenders. While the god's apostles act as they please and do what they want. Then those same gods constantly test their faith with next to no help. The only ones that ever gives help are Emory's apostle, Rory mercury. Then again, Emory is a god of war and murder. One who is also left with a stigma of unlikeable characteristics. The crowd just remained quiet. It is certainly possible with demons like these, but then again, these are demons.

The courier waited a solid five minutes until the group calmed down. When they did, when the courier gave his message. "If you all think this is a choice then your wrong. You're eating my food, drinking my water and accepting my cures. You all already made a deal with the devil. So that means I can enforce my law!"

The crowd of people gave each other confused looks. "Stupid sons a bitches sent hit men against me." The courier was no master of words. He couldn't convince a guard to look the other way or make masterful speeches but there is a moment where he gets help. In these moments he'll have the support of great friends or from his brother. At this instance His suits computer, Cutie was whispering advise. "Okay, now make the people we captured into scapegoats." Cutie said.

The courier nodded and walked towards the new prisoners. He stopped once he was in front of them. He turned to his Sergent. "Get your new weapons. We're seeing what they can do to humans."

The commander of the jackal nodded and walked towards the haphazardly dropped chest and open it. First, he brought out his own weapon. A powerfist crafted by both science and the enchanted arts. It's mighty pistons brimmed with magical fire. Then he took out enhanced recharger pistol. The sergeant stared at the weapon for a split second. Watching the magical glow peak his curiosity.

"Yo, boss. Exactly what magical power did you put in your gun?" The man asked.

The courier turned and gave him a sly smile. As if he wanted to show it off, instead of telling Then back to the crowd. "You can have many different paths. A lot of them can be good. But! There are paths that are dead ends." Literally in this case. The non commissioned officer walked up next to the courier. Offering him his weapon. The courier took the weapon with sadistic glee.

"These six here are being charged with attempt of assassination. The evidence is overwhelming. But don't think they just tried killing me. They tried killing a great future of prosperity and peace." He gestured to the daggers that were popping out of his back. The nanobots already healing the damage caused by them. "My men and all of you are witnesses to their crimes. There can only be one ruling. Wasteland justice will be carried out!" the courier scream at the top of his lungs. Cutie's suggestions making him seem as he knew what he was saying.

"Untie them and give them their swords. I want everyone to see how benevolent I am." He whispered to his Sargent.

The man nodded with a chuckle. "On it boss. Man, you love your moments don't you." The sergeant told his leader with gusto. With swift cuts from combat knives and arming of short swords, The men were ready to try again. The courier took a couple of steps back, his form tensing. Each of the frighten merchants had a confused look on their faces. All wondering what was expected of them.

The courier gave answers. "You guys have a simple deal. Die on your knees or on your feet."

The rebellious merchants gave each other looks. None of them wanted to fight but none of them wanted to die either. So they took their only option. They charged.

The courier wasted no time in dispatching his first target. He aimed his Mf hyper breeder and let out a volley of beams augmented by magical power. The compressed light is far more powerful than their older counterparts, they easily burnet chard holes into flesh. This, however, wasn't what caused the most damage. It was the soul burning enchantment on the man's very essence became physical and writhed in pain. Finally, with a combination of both soul and bodily harm is done to the man. It was enough to kill him. Leaving him a crumpled mess.

His friends saw this and screamed. They knew what kind of dark arts these were. They all knew that death by the blade is better than that. So they all fell to their knees. Begging for mercy. The courier only had a sense of apathy towards these would be assassins. He took aim and tore another man's soul to shreds. He was quite happy with the handy work of Alzue.

The courier aimed his gun and finished off the rest. To his mind, they already made their choice. To the crowd, they watch in stunned silence. This man is clearly isn't like their past leaders. The thoughts on him were quite mixed. There were ideas that he was an honorable leader to a sadistic tyrant. What the public will think of the courier will be seen in the future. His own jackals didn't care what kind of violence their boss did. For Lucy, she understood that the courier was breaking. The pressure of leadership and his current situation was going to only worsen. She may have only tagged along for good old fashion revenge but now she wants to have a home here. The wasteland is harsh and most of the wonderful places were already burnt to the ground. The only way she can get that is if she makes sure that the courier doesn't fall from grace.

* * *

[Alnus hill]

Yanagida was walking down the medical corridor. The folder in his arms was the dishonorable discharge papers for Yoji Itami. Something he didn't relish but he has to do it. He also needed to break the news to him of what he's done. As he turned the corner he heard screaming. He was able to make out that is was from an older man directed to an unfortunate soul. Then he heard the name Itami and then he knew what this was about.

Yanagida broke onto a sprint. He saw the girls huddled together outside Itami's room. Each of them with grim faces. Once they noticed Yanagida presents they went to address him with questions.

"Is what the colonel saying true. Does the demon men hold world breaking weapons?!" Lelei asked with more emotion than usual.

Yanagida gave her a resolute response. "Not if we can help it." He said with faulting resolve.

The man turned to enter the room only to be intercepted by the angry colonel. He was also able to gain a glimpse of the horrified face of Itami, but he had to give his attention to the angry man. He was a giant. but other than that he was plain to look at. Brown eyes, short buzzcut hair and an old rugged face. He probably was one of the new Commanding officers. After the battle of Tokyo, the Japanese government saw it fit to recall a few of their offshore trainees. This is one of the colonels was were studying the war in Iraq with the Americans. He was known to have a mouth on him.

"How can I help you, sir." Yanagida asked, attempting to defuse the situation.

"Other than turning in those discharge papers to that idiot not much." The colonel said with an angry tone.

Yanagida nodded and moved to Itami until he was stopped by the colonel's meaty hand. "We're moving for a possible cease-fire. Just know that I don't hold much weight to that possibility." With that, the colonel walked off to his post.

Yanagida and the three girls moved to attend to Itami. They all saw his face. His eyes were devoid of life and his body slouched. It's almost as if someone tore his soul away. Then the colonel must have told him about the drone scout. They weren't able to get personal close enough to the enemy base without endangering them so they sent the drone to gain a bird's eye view. It took a disturbing picture. It was a giant bomb, old but with the shape of the fat mad that flatten Japan all those years ago. Everyone now knows that Itami might have started a war with a nation that had nuclear weapons.

Yanagida just sighed and placed the folder on Itami's lap and walked out. He didn't have time to console him. had to prepare for a possible nuclear war with an unknown enemy. In Yanagida mind, he didn't really blame Itami for this hellish situation. The officer gave a look to Rory. Yanagida blamed that girl. Then again she did survive a fight with them.

"Hey, Rory. Any tips for fighting the otherworlders." Yanagida asked.

The little reaper placed a finger under her chin. "Well… I must say I don't have much insight into an easy fight. They are quite skilled. In fact, they did beat me." The little apostle said a smile.

"This again. IF they killed you then how are here in front of me" Yanagida asked surprised.

"Well, when they burnt my body to a crisp I regenerated at a shrine of Emroy, then I took a hike to your base." Roary told him as if it were the normal everyday occurrence.

Then the happy face of the apostle of Emory turns sour. "Oh, can you be a dear and do a favor."

Yanagida was in knocked into a stupor at the girl's answer. He couldn't believe what she was saying. If she was telling the truth then these people carried enough firepower to disintegrate bodies. Then again this insane girl could still be lying.

"Hey!" Yanagida was brought out of it by Rory's intervention.

"Sorry, I was drifting," Yanagida said apolitical.

"Sure..." Rory said with a slight annoyance in her voice. "As I was saying If you ever meet the man with glowing green eyes. Tell him that I want my weapon back or I'm coming for him." The girl's voice carried a weight of determination in them. As if she could be faced with armies of hell and still not be deterred.

* * *

[City of Italica]

The courier watches as he sees the city glow with new lights. In a matter of hours and robotic muscle. The courier knew that the people would continue to resist him and he'll cut them down all the same. He closes his eyes and let out a long sigh. Letting the stress of the day take him. His hand balls into a fist until his knuckles turn white. He slams it down onto the table and it broke in half

The courier was livid at those green motherfuckers. Why in the hell did they shoot? They were obviously fighting the bandits, so why! Then he remembered that girl. That impossible regenerating demi-goddess. After the fight, he learned what she was and that she'll be back. They went by the apostle and they don't die, regardless of what physical damage you cause them. But that was the keyword, Physical damage. He grabbed this prototype recharger pistol. He studied its chaise and watch it pulse with magical power. The gun will need constant care with an application of holy oils and prayers. He'll also need to replace the magical crystal in the handle to make sure it's soul burning powers remains strong. But it's worth it if he runs into her again and it would certainly be easier. He has her axe, well unless she can also teleport to her. Heavens forbid.

He sat there looking at his magical gun for minutes until a knock on the door. Lucy was the one who knocked. The courier remained sitting and made a welcoming gesture. With predatory grace, she quickly stored across the room and sat next to the courier. She had a wide smile on her. It was curious for the courier as he expected her to be off doing anything but having sat down with him. Then he realized that she should be questioning him about the broken table in front of them. Then he got what he expected when she saw the broken table. That smile quickly flipped itself and she gave a look to the man.

"Something with you. Out with it." Lucy told the courier with a stern voice. Almost as if she was lecturing a younger sibling.

"Nothing that will kill me. Overall I'm fine, just venting stress." The courier said.

"Stress is screaming into a pillow. Breaking a table, and an expensive one at that is something else." Lucy corrected the courier.

The courier raised an eyebrow. "Look, you don't need to be a shrink. You signed up to burn the empire that attacked you, to the ground." The courier told Lucy.

"Let's just skip the whole we're not friends shtick. Brooding doesn't suit you." Lucy said with tilt of the head and a kind smile.

The courier appreciated that. He doesn't think that keeping her at an arm's length is all that important. It isn't like she going to backstab him anytime soon. Well, not until he decides that throwing her under the boss would help him and New Vegas. "I might need to use a nuke on the green guy's gate." The courier revealed.

Lucy's smile now sunk like a rock. She stared into space for a few seconds contemplating whether to press on the issue or not. She relented and voiced her opinion. "I know they open fire first but returning the favor with a nuclear weapon is a bit overkill, isn't it?" She said with a bit of humor to defuse the tension.

"I know, but I have two choices. Risk a long-term war with an unknown opponent or sweep them aside with a nuclear hellfire." The courier said as a matter factly

"As powerful that would make us look to the locals, that is way too extreme. We could flatten them with long-range saturnite boomer artillery, or send waves of securitrons, or with good old fashion negotiation." Lucy pointed out.

"All the military options we have is not available at its full capacity. Most of our assets are dealing with the escalating threats back home. A nuke is really the only things were not using and we're only going to use one. Negotiation is our only other option and that will take time. Time we could use to end this quickly and grantee our control over this new world." The courier said.

"Man, you really are an ass face. Your forgetting that these are people. They probably are scared of nukes just like you and me. Just try talking to them and they just might cut a nice deal. You do hold most of the cards. They don't even know our strength and we know theirs thanks to the freaks of science 111 planted in their base. Hell, we will have working prototypes of their technology once we gain the synths packages. These guys won't have a single piece of leverage on us and they don't know it." Lucy explained with a confident vigor.

"That's where you're wrong. These guys ARe humans and you know what humanity did when they lost their options. They blew themselves into a radioactive hellhole." The courier countered.

"Funny isn't that what your trying to do now." Lucy masterfully pointed out.

Those words hit the courier like a truck. "God damn it, woman! What's with you and your logic. Can't you just call me ass face really and let me make my own war crimes." The courier said with an ounce of sarcasm.

"Aww, finally wanna say uncle," Lucy said triumphantly.

"No, I don't. You know I'm right. I'm going to do something terrible again. No one expects to use nukes and no one wants to be the one who uses them. Trust me I know." The courier said with annoyance.

He remembers the NCR invasion force. He remembers why they came. It was when their economy collapses when their territories couldn't pay taxes. They couldn't sell their wears when the new vegas versions were cheaper and superior. They tried stopping his increasing wealth by placing such heavy taxes on the New Vegas products. Then again, with nearly unlimited energy and the use of replicators made his product cost next to nothing. The NCR couldn't compete without pissing off the caravans.

When territories started seceding from the Republic was when they stretched their final option. They readied for war and planned on taking new vegas and all of its technology. They had the armies already ready. They had plans drawn and the public approval. They were also confident that their numerical superior force could wipe the floor with the smaller force of Securitrons and New Vegas Swords.

Once they started marching their armies towards his city was when the courier broke. He raced to the divide and punched in the codes. He still remembers the roars of the engines of the missiles as they rocketed towards their targets. Afterward, he put on a rad suit and watched what the aftermath of the explosion. He saw a massive crater in the distance and one just black. In the splash zone of the explosion, he found the melted skeletons of the troopers. Attempting to run away in fear. Their arms up high, pointlessly protecting themselves.

When he finally found bodies with flesh still attached, he found kids. No older than twelve with a twisted face of horror on him. He deducted that the NCR was really desperate for the riches his city could provide. He killed any survivors. They went mad or feral. The courier couldn't tell, hell they might have recognized him and attacked him in spite. All of that burnt into his mind but he didn't regret it. He would do it again because it ended a possible tragic war that could have been far worse. He crippled the NCR and gain a chunk of their territory. It was a one-sided victory. New Vegas grew stronger while the citizens of New California Republic started starving. He didn't regret it, he couldn't regret it. It was their own fault for attacking him.

Lucy remembers that the courier had to use these weapons against the NCR. She can see the worried face he's making and she knows that it can't be an easy decision for him. She has to admit that the situation back home is getting worse every day. A lot rode on this and a lot of it would be decided either by luck or their determination. Then she realized why he wants to end this in one strike. He can't risk it. His luck is almost impossibly bad. Every decision and every event happens due to something screwing him over. He's afraid and has nothing but himself to rely on.

Lucy gave the courier a comforting smile. "Well, whatever you choose I got your back. Whether it's talking to them or talking to them with a massive bomb."

The courier gloomy face does lighten up a bit. "Thanks." Was all the man said before standing up.

"Well gonna hit the bar, wanna join me." the courier asked.

"Hell yeah! Gonna get me a root beer." lucy cheered.

"Oh man, that does sound good." The courier said with a childlike envy.

The the two heard knocking. They gave a quick shot glance at the door frame to see the thin rig power armor of the Sargent.

"Oy, boss. Just got a message from base camp. It seems that the green folk saw reason and now are on their knees pissing themselves." The sergeant said with a boastful voice.

"Wha-?!" The courier asked confused.

"They wanna talk." The Sargent cleared up.

For once on the courier's life, he felt like his luck is turning around. Unlucky for him, life's a bitch and she's planning to prove him wrong.


	8. Chapter 8

**I have bad news, more bad news and maybe some good news. 1. This chapter is shot and it came out very late. That's because I've become busy in life. 2. There are going to be even shorter chapter from here on and I mean shorter I believe they are going to be around 2000 to 3000 words. Yes I know, these are far shorter than normal. I just don't have the time to write longer chapter anymore without making my release have massive release gaps in them. But hey you guys might like shorter chapters. Please give me your opinion about this in my inbox. If you guys really do like longer chapters then tell me and I'll do my best to bring them back. 3. You can expect that every fan fiction I ever work on will be finished. No matter what. This includes this as well. I can even tell you all that this story has three arks left.**

 **Thank you for your time and your support. I hope you enjoy this chapter and give your feedback.**

Chapter 8- Rabble! Rabble! Rabble!

* * *

[The roads between Italica and the 1st gate camp.]

The courier sat with his stealth suit and his Laser Rifle on his back. He tried stretching but a sharp pain stabbed itself on his back. His body was still sore from the followers check up, then again he thought it was necessary. His implants were acting up as of late.

The two women across him are Princess Pina and some brown haired knight girl, he didn't bother to learn her name. Six thought that he would even meet these people again. Next to him was Lucy in the Chinese stealth suit and with a Laser RCW laying on her lap. The Sergeant was the other person next to him, he wore the new tesla devil horn Vegas pattern power armor, or the V-T6 for short. The road towards the camp in a convoy of four trucks and two tanks. but it use to be two of his trucks.

His Brother was kind was kind enough to send him a small army of diplomats and bodyguards for the situation. The tanks, on the other hand, seem a bit much, then again he's only coming to make face. The best part was that 101 moved back to the base to properly fortified it and to deal with a volcano or something. She was paranoid that this was going to end tits up. The courier knew that somebody would need to fuck up royally in order to do that. They were both civilized people from educated backgrounds.

Then his convoy came to a sudden halt, jerking him and the passengers forward.

"Son of a bitch!" The courier cursed.

The Sergeant moved to protect his boss and Lucy armed herself with her newly issued equipment. The ladies, on the other hand, were still recovering from the sudden stop and were just barely getting up. The courier couldn't listen to the outside due to the engines, so he decided to jump out, despite the protest to his sergeant. He pulled out the laser rifle and kept it aimed at the floor, Six didn't want to shoot a passing family of duck by accident. With both of his companions in step behind him, he saw more fancy knights. They wore pearly white plate armor with gold accidents.

The courier growled and moved closer. They barked out orders in the native's language and drew their swords. Their horse balked wildly at the engines constant growling and their riders gave them a proper kick to calm them. Then they barked orders again. The courier stopped at their second warning.

"Again! I demand to know who leads these metal beast!" A blond hair knight ordered.

The courier just rolled his shoulders at the uncomfortable situation. These were technically their enemies as for now but he did have their leader in the back. He wonders what would they do at that knowledge. These women could not cause much trouble due to the sheer amount of firepower they held. The courier just jumped into the deep end and said fuck it.

"Look, knight of the empire we are the invading army and we could give less than a fuck of your demands." The courier said in their language.

The blond's eyes widen, not just at his statement but at her Princess turned the corner from the Trucks rear end, wondering in just in time. "Princess! What are you doing here! Aren't you supposed to be at the city of Italica, defending it from bandits!"

The redhead just brushed away some loose hair nervously. "It was taken by the demons and I created a cess fire with them. We are currently moving to a diplomatic meeting with the green men."

The courier just gave a fake smile and turned to the Princess. "Yes, and part of the deal to come with us was to cause less trouble, not more." The courier said authoritative tone.

"Yes! Yes! I meant it but this is unexpected." Pina pleaded.

Bozes boiled at the sight of her Princess groveling and decided to act. "Worry not my princess! We shall free you from this beast of a man!"

The Princess's face turned into one of horror and the courier just chuckled amusedly. He just took aimed and fired a red lance of light to the leading horse. Aiming to hit the animal and not the woman on it. The impact flashed boiled the horses blood and chard the flesh into ash. It's entire head disappeared and its body went limp. Falling forward and throwing its rider to the courier's feet.

The Sergeant and Lucy followed suit, killing the mounts and not the riders. Six now knew why his brother wanted him to use energy weapons, these were a clear display of their power.

Bozes recovered quickly and charged in a furry at the courier. He just sidestepped the blow and delivered a knee to the gut. Knocking the air out of her lungs.

"Stop!" The Princess screamed.

"Is that directed to me or to your subjects." the courier asked annoyed.

Pina just frowned deeply and swollen hard. "Bozes you will cease this pointless aggression and submit to my will." She said sternly.

"But Princess!" Bozes protested.

"That's enough! This peace is fragile. I will not allow you to do anything to sabotage it." Their princess ordered.

Bozes held whatever she was going to say and just took the blow to her pride. Princess Pina knew this was for the best but she couldn't let her look like a puppet either. "Demon Lord!" She said in a demanding voice that held an amount of fear. "You unnecessarily killed my knight's mounts. This cannot stand. I demand that you give an apology and give my knights some form of recompense!"

The courier gave a sideways glance to his companions, then at the women. He just shrugged. "Sure, we'll talk about after the meeting." The courier said nonchalantly. "Now let's get the meeting already, were late as it is."

"Wait what about my knights?" Pina asked the courier.

As the courier turned to get back inside she turned his head. "Tell them to go back or bring them with you. I could care less." The courier said lazily.

Pina just glances at her knights still on their knees and gulped. "With me." The princess ordered.

* * *

[At the 1st gate]

Eye's where on the large green vans and the two massive tanks with the glowing barrels. Their engines didn't growl like the ones that the men in green where used to, no they hummed with the power of the atom. To the people who owned the base, they felt a sense of anger at the ruthlessness of the visitors. To the men and women being escorted, they felt a bit of dread. It wasn't because of being behind enemy lines, no it's because they fear the man who owned new vegas. They didn't want to be turned into a labonimite or be forced into a re-educating detention center.

Lucy and the sergeant tense at the sight of being outgunned, they saw the rows upon rows of soldiers. The Princess and her knights were sweating a river and worried about keeping their clothing dry. The courier in the other hand dreaded the horrible negotiations. The sight of old men talking a second language that sounded like it repeated itself.

The transport from New Vegas came to a stop in front of a large open field. The courier stepped out and the other transports came to both bodyguards and diplomats. The guards were the regular New Vegas soldier but the people that came to represent New Vegas were unique. They wore thick blue robes, similar to the scribes of the brotherhood. Their heads were completely shaved and a large surgical line christens their skull. The courier could see the shocked faces of the troopers of the Green men, good. Shock and awe is something he excels in.

Six scanned the crowd before him and saw few men flanked by fully equipped troopers. The courier turned and activated a translation eyebot. It sprang into life with a beep. Then he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see the face of one of his brother's diplomats. The only thing that was distinct about her was her dark skin and white badge that marked her at the leader.

"Courier, we are ready to engage in the in talks as soon as the translator comes online." She said with a deadpan voice and said it with an equally emotionless face.

Six shrugged. "Just give it a sec to boot up. I just programmed this thing on the ride here." The courier said.

"You have my thanks in programming the machine with such haste." Now her voice changed from mechanical to a enthusiastic gratefulness. It was as if her personality was switched on by remote.

The courier felt a bit uneasy at the unnatural control of her emotions. He did know it was just the implants doing their job but still, he wished his brother spared some expense in fancying them up. "It wasn't a big deal. I just took a pre-war programme and installed it. I just hope that the Japs of this world is the same to our world."

She smiled informally. "Even if they are not one in the same, I have studied the subject thoroughly and picked up enough to understand." Her voice was soft and comforting now.

Six smiled back. "Well, your showing promise and I have to admit that I'm impressed. Not many people can learn a language that fasts."

The bot hummed its program readiness and started floating away. "Thank you and shall we proceed?"

The courier nodded and moved on. along with smiles and his personal bodyguards and smiles as his diplomat. The woman six already met moved with another group of diplomats to meet with other speakers of the other world. Each group had at least one eye bot hovering behind them.

Koji Sugawara had the First lieutenant Yanaida Akria and Sergeant First class Shino Kuribayashi at his sides. He was quite nervous at the moment. Sugawara was prepared to deal with primitive people who were being strong-armed by their superior firepower and military. It does not sound good when he thinks about it but it would have been better if they were the ones who decided the future for this new world, they are the more advanced culture. When he heard the sergeant Kuribayshi tense up was when he saw the man approaching him.

He looked ready for a war to break out at any minute, and the way he carried himself reinforced his first opinion. His followers also looked strange for a peaceful meeting. A person in thick metal armor and a woman in a form-fitting black suit followed him. Sugawara still didn't find them the weirdest of the bunch. There was a group of bald robed people besides walking to another meeting with more Japanese diplomats. Then it struck him. These could be theology government and they were bringing religious figures to act as diplomats. He dreaded this thought. They could be dragged into their own personal Afghanistan if he wasn't careful. Then when the entire situation looked it was at its worst, he saw it. It was a massive lizard creature described by the survivors. Sugawara took a deep breath and regained his composure.

The courier walked forward towards the Greenbacks and gave a polite nod. Six found them normal enough and clean, but found the woman to be a bit familiar but dismissed it. His back began to tingle again but he ignored it.

Smile's moved to greet the man. He did his best to seem appealing with a warm smile and a friendly greeting, but Sugawara still seems to hesitate to return the facade of friendly intentions. Then a man next to them who was now talking in Japanese towards their diplomats, then the eye bot started translating. Both parties were confused and then they realized that the Japanese didn't have translators if the old world and were doing it the old fashion way.

"I apologize not explaining sooner, but we have an eye bot capable of translating both sides." The eyebot translated for Smiles.

Sugawara was surprised at the reptiles ability to talk. It didn't leave him too stunned and replied quickly. "That's quite impressive technology and appreciate your efforts but my translator will be translating for me. Please understand that it just protocol and I cannot make exceptions." Sugawara said in an attempt to sound polite and reasonable at the same time.

"I understand. I should also inform you that we unexpectedly brought representatives of the empire." The vegas diplomat said.

Sugawara was stunned, not for long but it was noted by the vegas diplomat. It wasn't long for Pina and her bodyguard of knights to be out of the truck and giving their hellos. If Sugawara wanted to make any objections to the unexpected guest, then he didn't show it. He just nodded and welcomed them into their base. To the courier, this seems like a bad sign. He seemed too quick to adapt and most likely a diplomatic danger. Then his synthetic spin crawled, it was normally something he'll get id red lucy was nearby or some other person who was batshit insane. He turned around and his mouth hanged from his jaw.

In front of the courier, garbed in the uniform of the green men was the regenerating girl who was blown to hell by the dead rookie. He somewhat felt angry that she didn't stay dead as it made the rookie's death somewhat pointless. This agitated his spin somewhat, and he reached back to scratch it. This gave the little girl the wrong idea as she couldn't read the couriers expression behind his cowl.

"Hmph. I would have expected a bigger reaction, can you even give a reaction with those big green eyes of yours?" Roy Mercury attempted to tease the courier.

Six was annoyed and afraid, not of Rory that because he feels shoving a plasma grenade during the meeting would be inappropriate. Then again, she would be attacking him right now if she intended to hurt him. Six said his hello's.

"Howdy, it seems you recovered quite nicely since our last meeting. That's good." The courier said in an attempt to be nice. The unamused face immortal girl told him it didn't work.

"I'm fine but I'm not here for pleasantries boy. My Axe, where is it." She said with her arms crossed.

"Can't. Sold it." Six said in an attempt to end it quickly.

The face of the girl who seems to always seem to face a cocky smirk twisted into one of barely contained anger. "What! To who and where!" Rory demanded hunched and ready to pounce on the man.

"Dunno, to a private collector deep in America." The courier wasn't telling the truth. He did know who it was and knew that 111 would have the girl on a dissection table. Ripping her apart without rest until he knew what made her immortal. It was necessary that she didn't run off and put herself in that situation.

Rory's Eye's started to twitch and the odd spasm manifested on one of her limbs. She seems to be boiling and the promise of violence seemed to hang heavy in the air. When it looks like Rory would charge and attempt to rip six apart with her petite hand, she calmed down. Her face that was like a feral animal in a blood rage, turned calm and the killer intent that hung in the air... tripled. The courier knew what was going to happen and he really needed to defuse it now. When 6 was about to speak but Rory did it first. "I think I might just kill you with a blunt object."

The courier shrugged. "Isn't that the thing you were planning to do from the beginning. Except I have a gun and you have nothing."

The Girl grimaces and accepted that she was at a disadvantage. "I might have to grow a limb or two back but it will feel so good killing." She said pacing forward slowly.

The courier rubbed his chin to look as he was thinking. "Well, I could promise you a rematch after you get a new weapon. I'm not hard to find so it would be simpler to just wait." The courier said in his best diplomatic voice.

Rory stood there for a few seconds before turning around and walking away. She didn't stop when she was at the checkpoint and seemed to keep moving down the road until the courier lost interest. It seemed that she saw reason and followed his advise. The man just turned and jogged to catch up with the diplomats.

Six found the meeting room of the Japanese quite nice. It was clean and comfy. Though he did find it a little bland, there was no over the top decorations of the empire or the bombastic colors of vegas. It didn't really matter. He was just here to look pretty or intimidating. Either worked for him.

Lucy slipped away in the middle of the party and turned invisible. She wasn't sneaking around as that was the jobs of the moles they planted. Lucy was behind the Greenbacks and stood there watching them, clocked by her stealth suit. The Sergeant was behind Smile's and the courier, ready to protect his boss and lizard friend. Smiles were on the floor standing, as the couch wouldn't support his body.

The introduction was boring as hell. Everyone was just so professional and had that underhanded bureaucrat shit-eating smile. Even his own had the smirks, but that was necessary, he needed the best and that meant smiles had to use his namesake for the meeting. The courier just sat there and didn't even say a word, not even when they introduced him. He just sat there with a quiet aura of danger. Sugawara seems put off by this but again he recovered quickly. That couldn't be said about the princess and her bodyguards, the princess was visibly out of her element and her guards seem to have a shadow of shame looming over them.

Then the hellos and politeness ended there. It was Smile's who was first to start the meeting. "I suggest we get to know each other better. It is obvious that these gates are a tricky subject as they brought us to a new world and its people have proven themselves to be quite dangerous." Smile's said in a polite mask. "We both know the princess and her subject control abilities that just shouldn't be possible."

Pina knocked herself out of her fear born silence and contributed to the conversation. "My people have also found your weapons and tools quite foreign. We've never seen anything like it." This time it was the courier that needed to translate. He was the only one to know all three languages and it was agreed upon by the three parties.

Sugawara pointed out his point of view as well. "That could be said the same of the people of new vegas."

Smile's turned his head in confusion. Then after a moment of pondering he realized the truth. "Tell Mr. Sugawara are you from Earth and if so, what year is it?"

The Man sat up straight and his face didn't change but the courier did note that he seemed more curious. "Yes I am and it is 2015. I suppose you realized that both of our worlds may be similar but are not the same ones." Sugawara said.

Pina was confused and opted to stay out for now.

Smile's nodded in agreement. "Yes, but our records are fragmented. I don't know if we are the same world but from different times or we really are from different realities."

Suwagara raised an eyebrow. "I would respectfully ask why your record would be helpful."

The courier knew what was coming, this was going to be the turning point. He watched Lucy in her stealth suit spark for a split second. She was behind the Japanese and ready to execute a distraction. The Sergeant behind his smile's shifts his feet, ready to act on any aggression.

"Yes." The Vegas diplomat said nervously. "Our home suffered from a nuclear war. We're not sure who fired the first shot or if there are any surviving governments left. We have attempted to make contact with the other continents and even made a few connections."

Sugawara sat back and absorbed the information. He had a lot of questions but had one that itched his mind. "Tell me. What happened to Japan."

The Vegas Diplomat went dark and stalled for a few seconds before answering. "The small island was bombed into a crater and if anyone survived then had to deal with massive radioactive mist would have killed them. No one, not even ghouls could live there and we only recovered a few documents from sunken ships."

Sugawara slouched a bit in both disappointment and morning for his counterparts. "Can tell me what those records said?"

He nodded. "It was a project for the Japanese people to survive the apocalypse. They were planning to lunch colony ships towards the rings of Saturn. It also said they were planning to do it using a special invention they were building called project Gundam. We don't know what that means but I do hope it did help them." She said with sincerity and without understanding what she just implied.

Sugawara didn't react outwardly but simply nodded in confirmation. "For the purpose to avoid any conflict of interest can you tell me what happened the other continents." He asked in a monotone voice.

Smiles didn't see any problems with his request. "Australia is being ruled by clans raider who use plenty of vehicles in combat. South America's rainforests mutated and adapted to the radiation. The only humans we were to find where people who lived in multiple massive fortresses. Russia surface is overrun by mutant creatures and radiation, it's people survive by living in metros systems. Europe is being conquered by a warlord in golden power armor from technology obsessed barbarians. We haven't received much from China other than it's being saved by a martial artist known to kill you with pressure points. America is split into four nations, The NCR, New Vegas, New Boston and the Capital. As you already know, we are the Nation of New Vegas and we hold a federation with New Boston and The Capital."

Sugawara was temporarily satisfied with answers and proceeded to ask the more controversial questions. "Mr. Smiles, tell me, were you born or were you made?"

The deathclaw thought the question over and he decided to just let it all out. The reason is that these people will find out one way or another. "I was made and we have many technology people would find unethical, it's a common place where we come from. A super virus that mutates the person into a muscled green giant with a pension to kill, genetic engineered crops that could sprout parasitic spores, and we often lobotomize criminals as a capital punishment." Smiles did leave out the fact they also used synths for obvious reasons.

Any form of restraining the man had was now gone, he was worn down by surprise to more surprises. The things described were just horrifying beyond reason. As if every aspect of a science fiction horror movie came to life. Then he said something he'll regret. "That all sounds awful and are you're made from this." Sugawara said in a terrified voice.

Smiles was astonished and the what the man said. He was sure that it was an accident, but still, it offended him. "Excuse me." The deathclaw said only a split second later.

Sugawara blinked once and realized he had made a mistake before he could respond the deathclaw spoke up. His claw was raised in a motion to stop Sugawara from continuing from talking. "I apologize, I forgot that your people are far more cradled than ours." Smile's said with venom in his voice.

Sugawara made to repair the situations but one of the older and more conservative members of his task force moved in first. "You must understand only horrible situations will allow technologies like these to be commonplace." The old man attempted to explain.

"I am one of those horrible situations you just mentioned." Smile's pointed out.

The old man wasn't done. "Well, I mean it. When we talked with our troops they were attacked by a bioengineered weapon. One that had massive claws and had a sonic attack. Tell me Mr. Smiles were you one of those creatures. The ones that brutally ripped our troops apart with your claws and made their heads literally explode from those devices in your gullet?" Sugawara had to agree with the man in his ideas but now wasn't the time.

He whispered in his ear. "Don't push the matter any further. We need to create a cease-fire, not start another war."

Then Smile's responded. "Everyone in government must know how to fight in an environment as hostile as our own. Everything done was the bare minimum needed to survive."

Now old man just exploded after that comment. "YOU RIPPED MY SON IN HALF! You cannot call that the bare minimum! The bare minimum would have allowed my family to give my boy an open casket funeral. WE CAN'T ANYMORE BECAUSE YOUR KIND TORE HIS FACE OFF!"

Sugawara went limp. He didn't realize who this man was, he should have but he ended up letting this slip past him. How did he even get in here, then he noticed the guards doing nothing to stop the man and then it hit him. He remembered when the Trucks pulled in that had the bodies of lost squads. He remembers the man that burst through the crowds to see one of the bodies. Then the haunting memory of the man being a corrupt member of the cabinet had forced his connections to give him the leeway to meet his son. Now he is using those same connections to confront his son's killers.

Sugawara watches as negotiations break down and watch as they try to talk down to one another. He had only one question in his mind as this whole thing carries out, what kind of bad luck brought this here.

The Courier sit board on the couch as he watches the negotiations go as he expects. His head turns to see the Princess see her being no help. He just sighs when he hears to clicks from his radio. He sent one back to Lucy and she stood down. There was still a chance to scavenge this situation.

He just slouched and waited it out. But damn was the board out of his mind. Especially about this melodrama. He always hated these things, but he always has to attend these events when he could. The people needed to see their leaders be active in politics. Then again 101 could have attended this but no, she said she was busy. He hopes she was suffering too.

* * *

[The Great Volcano to the underworld- Xarnigalthuna]

In great wings of fire 101 flew into the fray, her newly enhanced super sledge crackling with lighting. With a thundering boom, she impacted the obsidian floor with the force of an artillery shell. Scattering her green foe away from the landing zone. Goblins and orcs stared at the armored hag in black steel armor and roared in defiance against her. These beasts of men had nothing to fear against a single woman.

101 Unslung Red flare into her shoulders and fired multiple volleys of rockets towards the bundled up enemy. Turning them all into a pulpy mass of burnt flesh and flailing limbs. The green hoard that survived was awestruck at the carnage unleash. They were not deterred from attack and decided to charge. One of the hulking orcs let a massive war cry and they charged with their Orichalcum weapons and armor. The old woman only smirked as they did and a manic smile plastered itself on her face.

"COME AND LET ME TEST MY NEW SELGE ON YOUR UGLY GREEN FACE"S!" 101 screamed in jubilation.

Her Jump pack lit up and thrust her into the melee. She impacted a large orc hoard hard and sent him flying to the crowd, giving her some breathing room. She made a sweeping swing towards the smaller goblins crowding at her feet and they all died consumed by the hungry crackle of exploding lighting. They're fleshed popped and sizzled in the heat of the enchantment. The bitch of the east didn't relent and swung her super sledge towards a pig nose orc that stood a head taller than the six-foot tall woman. The man-monster raised it metal shield in defense and when the enchanted sledge made contact the metal it bent and cracked. The orc stumbled sideways to the floor with a broken arm. 101 couldn't finish it off as another orc attempted to jumper her with a posse of goblin. She jumps away and was able to avoid the orc but his smaller friends were able to latch on in time. They crawled all over her, attempted to find an exposed soft spot to slit their small daggers into. 101 felt a sharp jab to her side and knew one of the small bastards found a way through her armor. She needed to think quickly before the orc's recovered and decided to make a full body roll. She fell forward and crushed the two goblins on her front under her bulk. Then she rolled and crushed the other small one like a steamroller. The pain the side faded as her armor inject a stimpack into her.

Once the goblins were off she felt a pair heavy footsteps and knew that the orc's got back up. She activated her jump pack for a split second, lighting anything around her on fire, included the orc moving towards her. The sudden power burst of her jump pack sent her skittering across the black floor into a wall. She impacted it hard. Her head pounded hard in her skull and felt sluggish from it. Her armor injected her with some med-x it all went away. She jumped to her feet with the powerful servos from her motorized legs. She barely dodged the mace that nearly smashed her head. It impacted the obsidian wall and pulverized the stone. 101 gripped her super sledge until her knuckles whiten and made a powerful swing. It was parried by the mace and 101 felt a leathery fist impact her helmet. It sort of reminded her of a super mutant punch but this time it came from a mythical creature from fairytale land. 101 stumbled back to the pounded wall and saw it was the same orc that broke its arm. It barked at her in its tongue but she couldn't understand the language. She didn't care.

101 rolled her shoulders and once again gripped her magical sledge. It crackled into life once again and she charged forward. Both of their weapons clashed together in a spark metal and lighting. The two fought one another with blood and grit. 101 noticed that this orc's weapon sort of looked like a torch, she even saw enchanted runes on it. She realized that it started glowed with life and flames. The weapon burst into flames and the heat was so intense than 101 could feel it through her armor. The pig face orc swung the mace and fire flowed out of the weapon. 101 powered up her jump pack and flew high into the air. She was unscathed but she needed to end the fight now. Her bird's eye view allowed her to see that her knight was incircled and fighting a massive troll man. She gave the green a glance and willed her super sledge to gather it energy. She dropped down and the orc readied to bat her out of the air and she readied one final downward swing.

The orc had the shorter weapon and 101 the better reflexes. When the two where only a few feet away, 101 swung with rage. Her timing was near perfect and her weapons longer reach. The sledge made contact and the resulting explosion of lighting made the orcs entire top half turn to ash.

101 landed on the floor with a crack and she stood back up, panting hard. Her hand moved to her ear and radioed in. "Squad gamma, report."

"We are having trouble with Frankensteins! They have a big friend and our guns are busy with the small ones!" The paladin's voice was cool under the pressure but straining.

101 didn't waste any time and readied the last of her fuel for one last long-range jump. The rockets on her back burned into life and she was thrown into the sky. The wind sang past her and her body strained at the sudden burst of movement. She felt the blood straining to keep in her head, but the woman was too stubborn to let her blood disobey her. She reached the apex of her jump and now she was falling. She started angling her body towards the massive troll, controlling her fall into a stylish glide. She reached for one of her pouches and pulled out a crystal and jabbed it into the super sledge. The weapon fizzled for a second and, finally was thundering with life. She was getting closer and closer, until at the five-meter mark. 101 coiled up her body and built as much power as she could in the short moment before impact. At the moment she was face to face with the creature that toward over the massive knights, she let go. Her body rapidly twisted and the super sledge swung at speeds that would rival a bullet.

The Might super sledge made a thundering boom across the battlefield. Everyone turned in surprise at the headless troll. They were even more surprised at the second explosion that created a cannon-sized hole at the troll's chest. The beast fell to its knee and fell forward, revealing 101 with her hammer in hands. The Orcs and goblins were surprised that their beast died so easily. When the Goblins broke so did the orcs and they all ran.

101 stood tall and proud. "Well, that's how the cookie crumbles." Her soldiers looked at each other, a bit embarrassed at their leader's one-liner. 101 removed her helmet to revealed her offended face. "Well, if that's how it then gives chase. Either get prisoners or finish them off." 101 ordered.

The knight gave chase as the paladins stayed behind. these veteran warriors duty was to protect their charge. Their massive bulks guarding the awed villagers hiding behind them. They all came out of hiding to meet the warrior with blazing wings of fire. They all cheered at their savior and 101 raised her sledge as it lit up with lighting. They didn't see it but 101 was smiling cheek to cheek in utter joy. This was completely awesome for her. Even with her body bruised and with a broken rib or two she loved an old fashion melee fight.

Unknown to her but this was the birth of the legend of the astral hammer warrior.

* * *

[Back in with 6 with the rabbling]

The courier was falling sleeping at this soap opera. He was struggling with keeping his head from drooping but had the momentary drop of his head. The courier wondering if he could have a tv feature installed into his cowl but then was brought back by a tugging at his shoulder. He saw the sergeant motion him to get up.

When he did he asked his sergeant how it went. His answer was surprising. "Smile was able to work out a deal and we are going to be heading towards their capital"

The courier was speechless. He was ready to gun his way out with lasers and grenades, not talk to the Japanese in their own capital. In their home turf. "What's the dig?"

"The Japanese want us to justify the use of our arm's and to demonstrate them." the sergeant explained.

The courier felt a bit miffed. These people wanted to know why they didn't act like a saint in a radioactive wasteland. Hell, he'll give the explanation with a single finger. This was a massive inconvenient that it was going to bug him the entire time. He even started to feel his spine-tingling again. That did reminding him to meet with his personal doctor in the truck. He wanted to give him some result or whatnot. It didn't matter, he just wanted to get this over with and move one.

"Fine let's go and bend ourselves over for these guys. Avoiding a war is important but just barely." The courier received a pat on the back from the Sergeant and they both moved on to sleep the night off.

It was at this moment the shortest and bloodiest war the Japanese would fight since WW2 was set in motion.


	9. Chapter 9

**Alright, this is my first 2000 chapter. Please, any and all feedback is wanted. No matter how small. Oh and this is less funny and more serious. I'm just asking you to have an open mind until the end. Feel free to tell me if you liked or not.**

Chapter 9- Broken bones

The courier twiched at the feeling of cold metal making contact with his skin. "Please don't move, it's distracting." Julie Farkas told Six.

The courier shot the woman a look. She was acting as if she wasn't in trouble. "You know I'm pissed, right?" Six said scolding her.

"Yet, you're here getting your check up anyways." She said as a matter of factly.

"I thought you brought medical aid for my people." the courier said.

"I did," Julie told six.

"You're also helping the Japanese." The courier said.

"They had wounded and we were here, that's our mission," Julie answered.

"They have their own doctors and plenty of supplies." The courier told Farkas.

"They don't have any advance medicine. We do and we want to help. They even asked for samples." She told the courier without any hesitation.

The courier growled at the woman's high morals. "We are at high risk to going at war with them and our only advantage is the quality of our troops and our technology. We lose that and we might as well say goodbye to this world."

Farkwas put down her equipment and walked to face the courier. "You use to be a hero to everyone. You use to help everyone. Being the Messiah and bringing miracles was part of the legend of the courier. Kids went to sleep know you would come and stop the evil men. Now your here complaining about helping people." The Julie told the courier angrily.

Six slouched on the surgical bed. His head lowered itself and he let his hand rub his face. "I'm not going to give the bullshit of me saying that everything I do is necessary. I cannot help everyone anymore. There is a hundred battlefield across New Vegas and not all of them are simple, I cannot even say they all have a reason. All I can tell you is that I'm no longer interested in helping everyone. Only the people that put their trust in me. That's why I'm angry you giving away secrets to the Japanese, because I don't trust them." He told her that while looking at her eye's and not blinking once.

She relented and crossed her arms. "Fine. I understand I don't like it, but I understand."

"Will you stop helping the greenbacks?" The courier asked hopefully.

"No." Julie's answer was quick and to the matter. Leaving no room to speculate.

"Just don't build any bases yet. You don't know who you are dealing with. They might be Caesar's Legion 2.0." the courier told her.

"Doubt it." The follower told the leader of Vegas.

"Alright then, I have to work quickly then. That's the only way you won't run in and compromise the operation." Six told Farkwas.

Six motion to get up but The doctor's hand stopped him. "Before you do I have to give you your results."

"Really, This is the third round of test you made me go through." The courier complained.

"It serious," Julie said worriedly. This got Six's attention. "We've been check up on your implants in an attempt to replicate your unique ones."

Six's hands balled up. "Are you bragging or did you find something while abusing my trust." The Man was furious at the woman. Sticking her nose into something that she had no right to look into.

"We've asked you to bug Houses network for similar reasons. You shouldn't be surprised about us doing the same to you." She defended herself.

"You know what, it isn't important, those implants aren't special anyways." The courier hand waved away.

She nodded and explained. "When we were recording data on you we found some disturbing images." Julie's moved to her desk and grabbed a file. She proceeded to grab a bundle of papers out of it and showed them to the courier. Inside were Auto-doc X-rays and pip-boy readings. The Courier had a great deal of medical training and even could be considered an unofficial biologist. He knew what he was seeing.

"My bones are… fusing." He said somberly.

"Yes, for now, it's just a few ribs but in a few years you won't be able to move a finger." Even though Julie's had a falling out with the man and even disliked his method of government, the condition he was in was something no one should suffer.

The courier sat there for a few seconds, pondering the new information. "Any way of reverting it." The courier no longer had a merry tune to his voice. It was cold and calculating. Something he only expresses when he was cornered.

"So far… No." Julie's attempted to be comforting. From the look from the courier's face, it wasn't working.

"How did this happened." Six's asked while absorbing the X-rays.

"You have too many implants in your body and some of them were never meant to work together. The clinic implant and the foreign implants both give healing properties and both attempt to heal. Some even stimulate your healing property but that the problem. It's plural, one is fine but with stimpacks and the Phoenix implant are being doubled and doubled again. In other words, your being over healed."

"If I cut down on stimpacks and avoid as much damage as possible this condition would slow itself down. Right? Then again I could go and remove some of the tech inside me and get my old body parts." The courier still had them in big mountain and had a few being clones just in case.

Then Farkas showed him his spine x-ray. There were fleshy growths on it, tendrils of unknown biomatter snaked its way into the technology that made up his own spine. "What the hell is that!" The courier raised his voice in surprise.

"As I said, your body is overhealing itself and what your seeing is your spine… growing another spine." Julie's said nervously.

"That's not possible." The courier said dumbfounded.

"We don't know how it could be. It might be some sort of FEV or radiation, mutation or even a glitch in your implants. All we know it would take a lot of caps and years of research to learn how to cure it. Since we have no protocol for this or even seen something like it." She knew the man had the resources and time to do it. He owned new vegas and discovered old world tech that is helping rebuild the new world. He could find it and cure himself.

The courier's reaction was different from expected. He snarled and shook his head. "No, too costly for just one person, it's better if we just warn future generations and avoid any future instances. The resources could go in just improving the current ones as well. Making any cures pointless."

Farkas was surprised at the courier's casual disregard of his life. "What! This is your own life and you'll live horribly. You'll pretty much be a living statue and have to reamind inside for the rest of your life." She knew it was expensive but still, the courier had to see the importance living.

"As I said, too expensive for one person." The courier told her in a stern voice.

"You own an empire that builds robot army's overnight. You can afford it." The doctor attempted to reason with her patient.

"No, we can't. Vegas is hanging by a thread. The legion is recuperating strength, the tunneler wars are raging in our backyard and The NCR still sees us as their territory. We have people to feed and industry to fuel. Every grain of wheat, every bullet is being used to achieve it. Not a single resource has been spent for me and everything I own I built or scavenged To top it all off, we have a chance to let people live happy lives and all that stands before us is a nation. We still know very little about them but the fact that we're going to need every last ounce of strength to match them. My fear will not get in the way of that. I don't want it, I just want my nation to prosper now and beyond my death."

The woman was stunned. She didn't know what to make of it. He has no reason to lie and if it was true… She lowered her head in respect. "I'll respect your wishes"

…

"Thank you. Now I'm very busy and need to get to work." The courier jumped off the bench and dressed.

"Oh and one more thing. Keep it between us, the old doctor-patient confidentiality and stuff." The courier asked.

Julie's nodded quietly.

The courier stepped out of the tent and started to walk in the night sky. The Rookie's death was made pointless now. He didn't kill that reaper girl and he was going to suffer a fate worse than death. He let out a sigh. He placed his hands in his pockets and decided to learn his name and where he came from. He at least owed him that.

For half an hour the courier searched for the Sergeant. The man was responsible for recruiting and training the New Desert Jackals and was the best person to tell him about the rookie. He walked and walked until he found Lucy outside a brightly lit tent that had laughter and cheering coming out of it.

It didn't take long for the teen to notice Six walking towards her. She perked up and started jogging towards him. She had an angry frown on her. The courier wondered if he did something to piss her off. He got his answer as soon she started to speak.

"Heyyy YOU! *hic* YoU'lvE tOrld me tHAt yOu GoNna sMack THem skirt bois! ANd yoU kNows whaT… wE AIn't. WHAts uP WitH thAT!" Lucy slurred.

The courier faced palmed. Of course, the tiny girl couldn't hold her liquor. "Lucy your drunk."

"hEy I'M TaLKing TOwards yOu. ThiS lUCy PErson cAN waiT." The woman drunkenly misunderstood.

"Okay, you know what, you're right. Vauban asked for a Jackal to help deal with Empire bandits harassing us. I'll just send you. Good." The courier said slowly for the drunk woman can understand.

Lucy proceeded to vomit in front of him. Making the courier jump back in surprise. Then the Sergeant ran out of the tent, still in his armor. His face was bare, revealing his blond pompadour and handsome feature. Still, he was old and had wrinkles forming on his tanned face. "Lucy! There you are, I told you not to drink that woman under the table." He sounded casual and had an amused smile plastered across his face.

The courier saw her falling and caught her. She was blacked out. The Sergeant walked up to Six and greeting him. "Yo. Looks like she quite the handful ain't she." The courier nodded.

"Yup, The gifts of youth eh." The courier quipped.

"Boy, you young enough to be my son. You got that long future ahead of you." The sergeant said amused.

The courier smirked. "Yeah. Well, I'm off to my tent, might as well bring her with me. You mind walking with me, got a few questions"

The sergeant gave a large wave. "Ah, I'm too old to stay awake this late. Might as well turn in so no bother."

"Good."

Six threw Lucy across his shoulder carelessly and she let out a long moan. Then they both started walking. "Now tell me, what was rookie's backstory."

The older man shot the younger one a look. "Sound like you drank some of that green back alcohol snake I think they called it because it would a cold day in hell when you care about the dead."

"Kinda, pissed that that infinite live's girl is still kicking." The courier answered.

"I feel ya. It just ain't fair, the few rules in life is that when you kill something it stays dead." The Sergeant complained

"Life's a bitch and gives half a shit on what's fair." The courier responded.

"True. Well, rookies name was Pup Lover." The Sergeant said entirely seriously.

The courier stared in disbelief. Even Lucy unconscious form found it hard to believe and puked a little. "That's tamed compared to the rest of it."

"Shoot," The courier told him. Still shocked at the name

"Well turns out that pup was a special synth that was made by 111 himself." The Sergeant told Six.

The courier found this to be strange. "Why did you recruit him." He asked worriedly.

"He was upfront and needed to be tested. 111 found out war with the tunneler to be a prime testing ground. He was mean looking as well too so I said yes and he aced every test with flying colors." He was seemed to be looking back in his memories. Smiling at his training of the boy and pride swelling in his heart.

The courier understood. 111 would do this a lot, offering help in a form of some sort of experiment. It normally went fine and great rarely. "What made rookie so special." Six asked curiously.

"He was some sort of mix breed synth. 111 said he wanted to create an unflawed creation. So he took the research the institute had and made his own. He learned to mix gorilla, deathclaw, dog, cat, hawk, and human. Ended up with a balance between power and intelligence. He also had the parts of the brain removed, like the primitive feeling a civilized people didn't need. Like fear of anger and that junk and replace with a more calm version. Created a nice kid, barely talked through." The sergeant explained in a somber tone.

"You were friends." The courier asked.

"He was… all the good parts of humanity." The sergeant said as if was attempting to make a point. "He even died for someone because he knew he could prevent some else's suffering doing it." The Sergeant was a bit teary at that.

"You seemed to know him quite well." The courier said.

"Yeah, hey I know you'll make his death worthwhile. Kids will wake up happy and safe and no one will try shooting some else for food. That's all he'll ever want." The sergeant said with a happier tone.

The courier smiled. "I'll bring down hell on anyone who'll try and stop me and make the future twice as bright in spite for the people who'll tied to do it."

"Here hoping the world goes against you then." The sergeant said waving goodbye and walked into a tent that had the giggling of women coming from it. Then the man said something about love all night and that sort of shit. The courier dropped lucy in her bed on her side and walked into his own tent. He sat down and looked at the paperwork. He let out a pained groan and got to work. The Japanese won't be backing down on their own. He thought to himself.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10- Old world glory

The Commonwealth southern borders exploded and the thundering sound echoed across the land. A burning wreckage of a building glowed with fire and in front of it stood a coated man with a thin face and thick-rimmed glasses. On his hip hanged an ominous jar with the look of a closed lantern.

111 watched the rogue robot factory burn and his mind marked the end of the major parts of this machine uprising. The bodies of synth's and regular machines littered the area, scorched by energy weapons and blow apart by ballistics. He had no pity for the machine who obtained free, this world is far too small for any more self-destructive people.

"Well, that was taken care of." 111 said chipperly. He looked to his side were a marine stood. "I guess it's time to move on to the next thing in my agenda. So tell me, what is on my list."

Without saying a word the marine reached into his satchel and pulled out a clipboard. He looks over it, seeing dozens of finished objectives. He pulled out a pen and underlined a bullet point, then handed to 111. He took it and saw what it was.

*Tame a dragon for six.

111 smiled and handed the board back to his trooper. "Ah yes, I remember we just finished the mind control device for 6's a little time back. Very well, get the 12th, 32nd, and 44th ready to pass through the teleporter. From the synths we planted with the Japanese, it seems that thing is going poorly." 111 Knew that it would go belly up. He wasn't a man of faith but understood that six was an exception to that rule and understood thing would become a cluster fuck soon enough. Sure the courier would come back better than ever, that's just how he worked. But a small army will still be welcomed. They certainly weren't needed here anyway.

He turned and walked on to the verti-bird that was waiting for him.

[Japanese 1st Gate]

The courier was giving a quick once over on some documents from the NCR. Well, they were for his brother back home but he sent them to him. Hks little bro feel like it is better for him to decide what to do. They were offers of aid, troops, supplies, and manpower. In return, they want plots of land themselves for resources. He chuckled at that. It would be-be quite a gift for them and to smooth thing with his neighbor would be… good. He doesn't really hate them either, sure they do hate him for taking chunks of their territory and backstabbing them. He had to think this one over. The aid was needed and it will smooth thing over with them, on the other they are quite incompetent and he didn't know if this was some ploy to sucker punch him later. He'll make up his mind after the talks, that way he'll be able to plan around the outcome.

He sat up and walked out his tent, ignoring a package on his bed and with a skip in his step, singing a merry tune. He wouldn't need the NCR help later, these people seem reasonable. His agents and moles planted here told him all about the Japanese intention for a war of pure self-defense. They had no intention to grab any land or destabilize the empire. Better yet, Lucy is moving to deal with any empire forces harassing their borders and to get him a special surprise afterward. He stopped when he felt his spine tingle again. He knew how it was attempting to heal something that was already healed a while ago. It was disturbing but he let it fester in the back of his mind, he had work to do. Six moved on.

He met up with Sergeant and smile. The former was in his new power armor while the latter was in a deathclaw sized suit. It was tailor-made for him to look a bit more approachable, he even had a tiny top hat planted on his massive horned head.

"What's the dig guys." The courier asked.

Smile's looked at six and his usual gear, the stealth suit mark 3 and the cowl. "You know we're heading towards a civilian area." The deathclaw said unamused at the sight of his leader in combat gear.

"So? They still have crooks and lowlifes." The courier said plainly.

"Their entire city has an extensive police force. They have a military station near the gate and most importantly of all. You. Have. Bodyguards. Go and change before we are at risk of being late or risk starting a war." Smile's told the courier.

"Fine Mom!" Six said in a huff.

It didn't take long for the co-leader of new vegas to return. He was dress in a light navy suit with a bolo tie and night stalker skin suit. "You happy now, I put on the clothes that you put on my bed."

"Yup, let's go." Smile told the courier.

Serg looked at six and was quiet for a while until he spoke. "Nice shoes cowboy," He said mocking the courier.

"Shut up." Six said embarrassed.

They walked to the meeting point and found multiple jeeps, each one with them inviting diplomats of his nation in. A particularly large one had their name on it, well a formal dress man with a sign did. They walk inside the large jeep. Truck? Six had no idea, it was too in the middle for him to know. He did find a pleasant surprise of finding the princess with him, but she had two more people with her. An elf looking girl and a wizard kid with a staff. They, in turn, stared back at him and the deathclaw who was in the front. It was a bit awkward for six to be like this, so he decided to defuse it.

"So… Princess, who your new friends." The courier said in an attempt to seem friendly.

The redhead just looked at the courier for a while, a bit confused at his friendly attitude. "Excuse me, but you seem a little familiar, have we met?" She said in a sweet friendly voice.

"I'm the guy who is invading you. You know, I where big green eye's." Six said.

Pina's face turned to horror and her hands moved to cuddle herself. "W-What! But your human!"

Then it clicked for six. "Right, I forgot I was pretending to be a demon king and stuff."

"No that's wrong, you command hell knights, you shoot red fire from hell, you're commanding a massive demon right now." Pina said point a finger to smiles.

Pointy ears and kid wizard gained the same expression as the princess. Six crossed his arms and gave her the once-over. "It's all tech, like the Japanese."

Pina seemed both embarrassed and disappointed. She sat back down defeated. Then a man with a clipboard and a military uniform appeared alongside with a vegas trooper. "Alright, this is a last minute checkup. If you hold and firearms on your person, please hand them to vegas soldier." The Japanese man said in a monotone voice.

The courier just looked away, pretending as if he had no business with the man. Smile's growled and looked at six. "That includes you." The deathclaw told six.

Pointy ears and wizard girl reacted surprise again. The courier just rolled his eyes and pulled out several different guns, explosive, energy weapons, knives, brass knuckles, his massive fist of the north rawr, and a ninja sword. Everyone looked at Six with slack jaws. The courier just pulled out two hundred pounds of weapons and ammo from his pocket and looked like it was normal to have your suit defy the rules of physics. Six just looked at them and told them one thing. "Trade secret."

It didn't stop the blue from speaking to six. "Do you understand our tongue?" She asked and the courier nodded.

Her face was now blank, studying his every aspect. "I wish to understand why the princess said you use the magic she described. I have a mild understanding of how the Men in green tools but none of them do what yours are said to do. If the princess is telling the truth."

The courier didn't like the fact the Japanese were getting their own experts in magic and even less on them teaching them about their tech. Still he might be able to take her for himself, if he was smart. The doors slammed shut and the vehicle jerked forwards. Six looked at the girl and acted as if he was thinking. "It's a bit much to be explained right now. For now, I'll just say that any technology sufficiently advanced enough is indistinguishable from magic." Six said with a showman smile.

Little blue still needed a little more explanation. "I don't understand what you mean."

Six crossed his arms and kept the smile. "It's a quote, I don't know where from. The gist is simple, technology will be made easier to use and will bend more laws to your will. Until one day you wave your hand and…" The courier waved his hand and the hyperbreeder appeared from thin air. "Your dreams come true."

Smiles did the opposite of his namesake and frowned. "Really Six, You used a stealth boy to sneak in your prototype recharger pistol."

Six hid his gun with a flare. "Better not need it and have it, then need it and not."

The deathclaw just shook his head in disapproval. Six looked back at the girl who didn't understand a word that smiles and six said. Still, she was wide-eyed and curious. He knew he had her hooked and he would capitalize on that when the time came. For now, he enjoyed the ride as they entered the deep black tunnel. For a solid minute, they waited. Everyone wanted to see the home of these people and when they saw a light at the end of the tunnel, hearts skipped beats. In an instance, they saw everything that made the dream of the old world worth risking nuclear hell. The buildings were huge and the streets clean from any rubble. The sight of old world glory struck the gate natives in the mind and the walkers of the apocalypse deep in their hearts. Pina and everyone like her marveled sight of might towers of glass and stone. To six and the rest, they felt a bit of jealousy. Even all the work was done to new vegas and it's town, it still had the scars marked on the outside. These buildings were almost brand new, untouched by time and kept pristine by maintenance and a lack of a nuclear war.

With beating footsteps they walked into a checkpoint and after some formality's, they met the world. They saw hundreds, if not thousands of people being held back by barriers. Six could see dozens of reporters, civ, and what he guesses are police holding the crowd back. Behind them were more giant buildings with windows full of pristine products and unmutated foods stuff. The reactions of the group, even the wastelanders was awe. These same faces could be seen on the civilians of the world as well. They saw the beautiful elf girl and the flesh and blood princess walk amongst them, only ever dreamed of in writing. But who grabbed the most attention was Smiles, the giant deathclaw looked like a demon from hell that dressed sharply. Still, the twelve foot tall genetically engineer lizard waved and gave a friendly toothy smile. It didn't help him at all.

"Easy there bud. They never saw someone with a mug like yours." Serg told smiles.

"Heh, I know but still, some of those kids have stick hands and they look like I'm sort of petting zoo." Smile said in a trembling voice.

"You're half a ton of ass-kicking muscle and claw. You have no right to be afraid of kids." Serg said sarcastically.

"Funny, anytime I hear a woman say you have kids, you run like your ass is on fire." Smiles chastised.

At that, the sergeant stayed quite. Six, on the other hand, noticed a few faces that were gruffer than the others and had the features of indifference. A chill ran up his spine as he knew what that meant, hired assassins. He speed walked next to the sergeant and tapped him in a pattern of 1-2-1-2. He understood the gesture and maintain his pace. He moved and gave smiles the same signal.

"So, how do like the locals." Smiles asked Six.

"They seem like a fine bunch of people. A few seem rough around the edges, a little off-putting even but nothing that seems dangerous. Still, we know very little of them, for all we know they might shoot lasers out of their eyeballs or something. All I can say for sure is that they seem normal compared to us." Six told smiles.

"I'm sure we can impress them with our skills." Smiles said.

"Let me do the talking, you can sit back and have them enchanted by your beautiful face." They bunch of them moved on and the encryption message sent. They understand who we are facing but not how many. Still, he hopes that smiles can stay out of any fighting. For the sake of his image and the assassins who didn't understand who they were dealing with.

They moved on until they stopped in at a row pearly white buildings. All of them was a marvel to be seen by the newcomers. Some of these building were architectural wonders to the children of the empire. But the sons and daughters of the waste see it as a fairy tale come true, as the old world came to life before their eyes. They walked up the stairs and looked at the various faces of people who never seen combat and never experience terrifying survival. Makeup, a rare commodity for both parity from beyond the gate. They walked through the double doors made of wood untouched by radiation. An image taken from pre-war pictures was now in front of everyone from new vegas.

They entered the building walked through their halls until they entered a massive room for the meeting of the three nations. It was as if the capital wasteland turned back the clock and showed it old splendor. Here would be where they would lay their cards on the table and let the fate of the nations begin.

The representative of the empire sat in one side and lords of new vegas sat on the other. In the middle of it was the Japanese and rows upon rows of people in suits. Six made a closer inspection and saw that some of them were not Asian but people from all around the globe. He saw people from Russia, England, Africa and even America. Still, he didn't see anyone fromChinaa, he did find it for the best as the last time China interacted with old America, it ending in hellfire. The courier felt tense as the audience of billions of people watched him. He released when the chairman of the meeting started the game of diplomacy.

 **If you hate me for this cliffhanger, then I understand. The only excuse I can give is that I need to think up how the meeting would go but I can't stop thinking about my second fic. It's a sorta writers itch and I didn't want you to wait for a 4k long chapter for weeks. So instead of powering through, I'll just go with the flow of my mind. Still, I hope you enjoy what's there.**

 **I do have one question for any of you willing to answer. What do you think about fight scenes in writing? Do like a lot of detail or prefer it to be open to the imagination. Are they better longer or should they just take a paragraph at most? I feel like that's the area that I have the most trouble with and can sometimes take hours to write.**

 **Thank you for your time and support.**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11- Murder by kindness

Six need a metaphor to explain what was happening in front of him. This entire negotiation was a bit... He thought back at his memories and remembered old holotapes he would dig up and they always contained something new. There was the usual last words or ramblings in journals, the myriad of books that detailed the pre-war world. The ones he loved were the recordings of old shows from old America. The best part was the sheer variety of them. There was romance, mystery, horror and most exciting of all, Drama. The one that stuck out most courtroom dramas. Those had everything, backdoor deals, love triangles and the ever-present danger of everything falling apart with one wrong word. This meeting between three very different peoples was exactly the opposite of what he described.

Still Six watched smiles go to work and attempted to understand the flow of the negotiations. Smile's was telling them the events that led up to this moment. On what they attacked and what sort of harm it did. The deathclaw also described what we did to get here: The battle and troops we brought and he was an artist while doing it. The young deathclaw was cleverly weaving around anything that would paint us as aggressors and deflected any questions that would incriminate us and controlled the flow of the conversation with talent alone. Well… the fact he was a giant dinosaur with claws the length of your arms also helped.

Six had to hand it to Smiles, he made this go far smoother than expected. The people of Japan heard our story and know came to let them know our intentions and we were ready. Our blitzkrieg war granted us the territory we needed, the only thing we needed to do is tell them without souring the relationship too much.

Mizuki Kohara knew that these people felt like they were entitled a free pass. The nation of Japan needed an explanation and maybe some compensation as well. When she raised her objections the speaker of the meeting let her take the stage. She tried staring down the 2nd Gaters and failed to intimidate the massive talking lizard. It didn't deter her from taking her chance. "Tell me. How can you excuse the many immoral actions you have taken during your campaign. Such as using terror tactics or excessive use of force against a primitive force."

Smiles carefully studied the woman before him and read between the lines of her question. Bobbing his head he opens his maw to give his answer. "Our war with the empire was swift and with the intention to avoid any further incursion into our territory. Any claims of excessive force can be excused the same why you have excused yours. We simply didn't know who we were fighting."

The woman stood back and crossed her arms. Smiles spoke again. "Is that all?"

Kohara gritted her teeth in frustration. "No, I'm not convinced that you did it with the simple goal of protecting your civilians. I believe that your apocalyptic Authoritarian government is invading the beyond the gate to gain control of the land and exploit it for its resources."

Smile's turned to the speaker of the house to see if this was appropriate. He nodded and spoke. "The claim of Miss Kohara is warranted as this is a meeting to understand your intentions. Please understand we mean no offense. Though I may warn Miss Kohara that one should not throw accusation in such a manner." The speaker in a bored monotone board voice.

Smile nodded in understanding. His gaze met the crowd of people and camera focused on him. "You may think we are madmen playing with scrap and living in rubble. That we abuse our power and play tyrant with the lives of our people. Everyone on the wasteland would scoff at the idea. We scavenged old world technology and are rebuilding the foundations of society. The choice of government was made due to said technology removing any need of old-world ideals and the limited industrial capability making it impossible to live in a demand economy. A command economy was the only choice. If you want a moral reason, then all I can say is, we have no other reason than the ones we make for ourselves."

Whispers and hush messages passed amongst the crowd and they didn't sound negative to Kohara. It made her nervous, she had to make some sort of headway. "What's your reason." She asked out of desperation.

Six twitched when he heard smiles answer. "I believe it's the future. The new way form of governance is the most efficient and maximizes happiness. The automation will only get more advanced as the future comes closer. Making manpower less needed. There will be no need to revert back to a democratic government." Smiles said without stuttering. Making his word sincere. Six shook his in disappointment. He only had this form of government out of necessity, not as a replacement. He'd need to address this later.

Kohara still had one more question before she exasperated her options. "Very well, but I do have one more question." Smiles tilted his head ever slightly, preparing for the question he's predictions. "Are you planning on returning the occupied land back to the empire?"

The deathclaw watched the princess in the corner peck up at that question. He felt terrible that she's going to end up disappointed. "No." Smiles replayed.

Kohara pounced on that. "That sounds like a hostile takeover of foreign lands. That is a reasonable response."

Smiles responded with his comeback. "We believe that a foreign power that decided to attack to subjugate and enslave your people, does warrant a full-scale counterattack.

Kohara pressed on. "Still, you have achieved your goals. There is no need to occupy the empire city anymore"

Smiles retorted. "The city of Italica has many parties that would be in danger of empire retaliation if we left. For the interest of public safety and the betterment of the citizens daily life. We're going to be staying in the city for the foreseeable future."

The woman alongside with anyone opposing saw that they couldn't dislodge the foothold New Vegas has in the alternate world. They ran out of options for now and there were more pressing matters that they wanted to talk about. Such as the technology the people of New Vegas displayed and the need to better their relationship if they wanted any hope on using any of it. Dozens of representatives of dozens of different nations were completely tense. Wondering who would be the first to ask the question. Many hands raced to ask the question but only one got any attention.

"Excuse me. But the president of the United States of America wishes me to translate." A wiry man in a navy blue suit with a red, white and blue flag spoke in Japanese.

Everyone froze cold still as they heard the moderator give permission. The wiry blonde man was given some orders through his headpiece, after a few seconds he spoke. "Mr. Smiles, is it true that your part of New Vegas which is part of the continental United States. Do you and the people of new vegas consider themselves Americans?"

The young deathclaw stood and listen to the man with a poker face. It also helped that he had no recognizable human features to understand his emotions. Smiles slowly moved to the mic and artificially created more tension within the room. It only broke when he spoke. "We consider ourselves as Americans yes, but we are the Americans of the new world. When we are rebuilding we do so in a new future, not willing to repeat mistakes of the old. To do so, we keep our old name to remember but discard any notion of having any relationship with the past."

The president received the news a few seconds later. The president took this with stoic indifference. He wasn't planning on stretching any authority on a false sense of ownership. He was looking for something else entirely. Smiles stood and waited for a few more tense second later. "We wish to understand any feeling you may harbor with a modern America and any possibility of opening any form of trade. Specifically the sorts of technology we see in the demonstrations videos you sent us. Such as the fabricators and hydrogen-powered fission generators."

Smiles stuttered for a moment. He knew that he had no authority at discussing that he'd need Six to speak up and normally he'd wasn't very enthusiastic about it. The second problem is that they still haven't gotten to an agreement on that front. "We still haven't gotten to an agreement on that quite yet."

If smiles could sweet then he'd be shooting bullets. He saw the entire crowd mumbled to one another. There were arguments on both sides on how they should approach on sharing their technology. Six and most of the military figures were flat out against it. They feared any possible military actions these new nations might take in the future. Other that was more concern for the future diplomatic relationship and concern in repeating past mistakes. The main argument that put this idea in a stalemate was that the last time people denied the solution to the world's biggest problems it causes the third world war.

"We'd still haven't gotten into a consensus about that situation." Smile's responded.

The blond man did not relent. "Isn't the world leader who owns the technology with you now?"

Smiles turned his head towards Six and he jerked his head back. Smiles nodded and turned to address the crowd. "If you want an answer now then we would need a few minutes to think it over."

The speaker of the house let them have the time and even gave them a separate room to speak it over. Six, smile's, The sergeant and half a dozen other people of various backgrounds follow close behind. When the door closed shut, a massive amount of arguments for both sides bombarded Six and all combined into a mass of unsensible noise. It was all silence by Smiles clear his throat quite loudly with his cybernetic vocal cords. Everyone in the room quieted down at that. The all turned to the deathclaw who stood diligently next to his boss. Six.

Everyone waited for the man that responsible for the decision. He was sitting in the chair and his chin was resting on his palm. "Alright, I want one person from both sides to give me their arguments and I'll decide. Don't worry, I know I'm leaning towards withholding the tech, but I understand the other side of the argument."

That didn't reassure the people were sharing for sharing the tech as it sounds like he already made up his mind. The two groups split and each chose someone to represent them. The Sergeant surprisingly was chosen to represent the people who opposed the sharing of tech. Julie Farkas step out of the crowd who was pro sharing of technology.

Six slumped in his chair and got prepared for a lengthy debate. He nodded towards the Sergeant and he spoke with the confidence of the man who believes he was part of the right side of history.

"We know little of these people except one thing. They are powerful. They have a massive fleet of tanks in comparison to our low numbers. We might outmatch them in technology but they are far ahead in their industry. They'll eventually overwhelm us if we're not careful. Hell! If they are clever themselves, they can destroy us with their airpower alone. Something we're severely lacking. We need every possible advantage. So just hold on to it, at least until we learn more about these people."

Six nodded. He understood his way of thinking. Hell, he pioneered that way of thinking. Still, it's just one half of the argument. He turned to Farkas and expecting her to preach about doing the right thing and helping people like a chump. It ended up surprising the courier.

Julia Farkas first few words felt desperate. As if she was attempting to avoid an accident. "Believing that it is us against everyone else isn't justifiable. America did it and they ended up destroying the world. Imagine what would have happened if they did share the same technology with the rest of the world. It would be a unified world that could explore the stars and create instead of destroy itself. The world is too deep in paranoia that we forgot to trust one another. So tell me, why didn't America share its technology." Farkas asked that last question as if it was obvious

Six shrugged his shoulders. "Old America probably didn't want the technology since it would ruin their economy and destroy the status quo. Its entire political ideals were opposed to the idea of a socialist government. The whole thing would rip itself apart. Hell, most governments would with such drastic changes to the facts of supply and demand..." Then it hit Six "Holy shit Farkas, I can destabilize the alternate world by playing nice and can't be blamed for it. When the chaos erupts, I blow up the gate and leave them to their fate."

The follower was surprised and terrified that the courier turned charity into a weapon of mass destruction. She can't believe that she put that idea into his head and now billions will suffer for it. Still, it was better than the other option. She only prays that it won't cause too much damage because that means humanity was doomed either way.

It all ended there and with a new party making most of the diplomats. The ones who voice their disagreement were quite vocal and with good reason. Still, everyone was set to see this through. They knew what happened last time and it only caused the apocalypse. Six was the one who personally gave the announcement. Every calm voice soon became vocal with joy and confusion. They expected a bigger fuss but this was pretty clean and cut. If they had the foresight what was coming, they would have rejected the offer and kicked Six out. They would have destroyed the gate and forgotten the whole thing. They were even warned by the courier himself.

"This will be a massive change, millions will be unable to starve, everyone will be able to live in luxury and no will ever hurt one another. Why! Because it will all be wiped clean, No more needs only want!" To many, it was a miracle and to a very small few it was death. The greedy, corrupt, and the sinful saw the truth. It was the death of their way of life. And they panicked.

[Mojave Wasteland]

111 walked through the rubble of the destroyed village. It was here were it all began. The place that doomed the other worlders. Heh, lucky them. Still, he watched the crew of miners clearing the rubble Six made. If he remembered correctly, there was a working supercomputer under there. Six's brother walked up next to him.

"So you have some sort of trick that will speed this dig up?" 21 asked 111.

"Yes, just tell your people to clear the way." 111 said in a monotone voice.

"Fine, if you waste their time then I expect that you pay for it." 21 said as he hand waved his workers to take five.

111 took the head-sized lantern tube off his waist and unhooked it from his belt. With a squeeze of his thumb, it activated. The panels flung open and a skinless head, it had a strange crown with a green jewel revealed itself. The eye bulged out of it's sockets and the lipless jaw gaped open in a soundless scream of pain. The Green jewel glowed and the earth around the rubble started to float away. The massive chunks of concrete started sharking as well and when sweet started to roll down 111 brow, the rocks started to lift. With an audible huff, 111 flung the tons of concrete meters away. Crashing with a plum of dust. 111 smiled and stared in satisfaction at the decapitated head of Lorenzo.

21 was had to take a few minutes to realize he had his jaw on the floor. He looked back at 111 and said. "My bro is going to be mad at letting you come, when you whip that out again."

111 gave a curt smile. "He won't mind when he see the help you gathered together for the war effort."

21 looked doubtful. "They'll be useless if the talks go well."

111 chuckled. "There always use for an army in the world." 111 said as he turned to see his three divisions. There were also Great Khans, boomers, a squad of enclave, and a sizeable securitron reinforcements. With the odd group of mercenaries here and there. He nearly choked when he saw Reilly's rangers and the gunners. The oddest of the bunch was the desert Rangers with their anti-material rifles. Didn't they hate Six for what he did to the Ncr? They must be desperate. Oh on how the might have fallen.

111 could only chuckle at the sight.


	12. Chapter 12

**Review Questions. Tom: If you want an answer then let's say he's Lv. 111. But! I don't rule my stories by game mechanics. So there aren't any levels ruling them. Plus it would be weird if 101 is around her 50's and she's the least experienced. If you feel like it does matter then I wouldn't mind releasing the s.p.e.c.i.a.l. profiles of all the fallout main characters as a filler chapter. Just to be clear, the bio's won't interfere with my release pattern.**

Chapter 12- The Amazing Adventures of the survivor and the wonder

Six relaxed as the warm mineral water soothed his body, a bottle of Japanese alcohol hung loosely from his grip. A relaxing reward for a hard day's work. Even Smiles was enjoying himself as he laid on top a massive block of ice with warm wet towels covering his entire back. Sergeant of off gathering intel and organizing the troops. Those Girls from beyond the gate were enjoying themselves and even started calling one another from first name bases. Yes, nothing interesting was happening. Then a man in power armor ran in the hot spring with a gauss rifle in hand.

"Sir, the crown is being delivered." The Jackal responded.

Six minds and body fell into euphoric delight. He wondered which wonderful souls were being sent to tame his new friend. He's sure General Vauban can find proper volunteers. He may be Ex-legion but has a tactical mind for modern warfare.

[Wasteland Gate]

101 in her full set of power armor, basked at the sight in front of her. It was a gun, not just a regular gun. It was far too large for any human or super mutant to hold. In fact, if you weren't three stories tall and have the might of democracy beating in your fusion core, then you'll never pick up this gun. Yes, she said it, she made a gun for the already heavily armed Liberty Prime and oh boy did she go all out.

The AS2X K1CK3R Automatic Cannon is the labor of love and hate for all the beast of the waste. 101 drooled over the new specs sent to her pip-boy. The weapon's barrel and recoil mechanism are made from ultra-dense Saturnite metal and heat distribution is handled by built-in coolant system. The rest was made from a combo of polymers and aluminum carbon alloys to make up for the great weight of the barrel. It's has a round drum magazine that can hold up to two hundred rounds of its special ammunition. This is where most of the guns expenses came in and oh boy was it worth it. It fires 75mm custom made, 50k caps, self-propelled mass reactive, armor piercing rounds. The core of the ammunition is a mini nuke and is tip with depleted uranium for the armor piercing capability. This baby can also fire their payload a hundred and twenty round a minute. To fire this weapon for sixty seconds would cost around five million caps. You have to be asking, was it worth it? Well luckily for everyone, 101 and six paid for this weapon out of their own pockets and 111 help cut cost by designing it himself. With the brains from Big M. to help build it. So, yes it was.

The lone wanderer was giggling like a schoolgirl when she saw the weapon. Her clawed power armored fingers scraped at her seals as she was struggling to breathe from the manic laughter. 111 snapper her out of it when he placed a gloved hand on her shoulder. "I take it that the weapon is up to your standards."

101 slow turned her head, twitching while doing it. "O-ohhhoh yesss."

The madman slow step away from the excited woman. "Well, that just one of them. We gotta get this dragon mind control device load and transported towards the dragon location."

101 regained herself and turned to address 111. "You know where it is?" The woman asked curious.

111 face slightly turned frustrated. "No I haven't but I'll need to ask around, maybe send out a few of my agents."

101 gently punched his shoulders. "I know where to look. So don't go off and started poking through people's minds."

111 stumbled a little at the punch. He hated on how 101 had little concept on how strong she is. "Isn't it safer for at least one of us to stay at the base? "

101 hefted a Gatling laser and stuffed an electric charge pack into a socket. "I'm not giving up a chance for dragon hunting and that Vauban guy is nice enough. Don't know where Six found him though. That guy sure has an eye for talent for it." She said as she was preparing her equipment.

111 found a wall and leaned against it, with a grin on his face. "Well, I'm sure he'll surprise you if we ever engage in a massive battle. I hear his background is just filled with success." The man said with some mischief in his voice.

With a click, her Gauss rifle hummed to life and she placed it next to her rows of weapons from her arsenal. She let her helmet lenses met 111 faces and absorb what he was putting out. "Oh, it's one of Six's more controversial recruits?"

111 chuckled. "Am I that readable?"

101 responded immediately. "No. You're just both a psychopath and insane. You have tells. Hard to read tells but tells nonetheless." She said flatly.

111 seemed insulted. "I am not."

"Exactly." 101 responded.

111 sneered at 101 response. "It seems you made up your mind. Well since I have to deal with your mind-boggling stubbornness, you might as well make yourself useful. You said you had leads on a certain dragon that needed some enslaving?"

"Another one of Six's controversial recruits met a certain elf lady." 101 said.

[Road towards the Dragon]

The Truck bounced and knocked Lucy off her seat. She feels on the spring steel floor with a thud. Lucy stumbled back to her feet as the truck continued to speed towards the valley of canyons that made up the dark elves home. She sat down on the small benches that barely secured her from the rough journey. She looked gingerly at her gear and found it all in its place. Then she heard the snicker of the person who they were helping. The Dark Elf Yao Ro Dushi and from the clan of the same name. Lucy shot her an annoyed look and that shut up their charge right up. She laid back but was bumped off her seat by another hole in the road. She hit the floor again with a curse. She was starting to regret bringing the woman in. Maybe then 101 and 111 wouldn't have stung her along this trip.

The booming electronic voice of 101 caught her attention. "Alright ladies, We're about to meet the locals and I want you pretty and with cutesy personalities, we don't wanna look threating now do we." 101 joked.

A hiss came from 111 and his strange weapon. Lucy had no idea what it was but she assumed it was being primed for whatever they were gonna face. Then she remembered the living tank they bearly injured with a gauss rifle and hope it was another bullshit super weapon that 111 was fond of field testing. Her heart felt relieved as 111 loaded massive wicked looking bolts into the bottom.

Yao spoke to Lucy. "Thank again for helping my village. Thought I feel better if you accepted our reward. I don't like people having something lord over us."

The tribal girl shrugged. "I never cared for pointless crystals and the big three don't have any use for it since they can just make their own."

"Yes, you've already told me this." Yao said somberly. "Still, my offer for my service is still up."

Lucy shrugged dismissively. "101 hates any forms of indentured service and any agents 111 want, he could just make. I'm just some grunt who likes her alone time, so you're a free woman."

Yao seems disappointed. Which bother Lucy as she would be thanking God for the free pass. Still, the elf didn't seem to actually like the outcome. Then something hit her. "The one created the device that will stop the Fire Dragon, would he like a servant?" She asked hopefully.

Lucy didn't bother to contemplate the question. "No."

Yao hopeful expression disappeared. Lucy kicked herself for going out of her way to help someone. "I mean it. In both the courier's moral compass and the fact it's better that you stay away from him."

Yao was taken aback. "Why?" She asked curiously.

"The courier isn't the type to do but to react. You'll only slow him down." Lucy explained.

Yao seems to dismiss this. "I think it should be up to him. Still, I'm curious. Why should I stay away?"

Lucy eyes in a rare instants show a little fear. "Cause the guy was a slave of the legion, a powerful empire and he destroyed them alongside another nation. The guy is always hounded by fate and still, he defeats impossible odds and wins with a little extra on the side." Lucy said while hiding the fear in her voice.

Yao was confused. "Why is that bad? It seems he'd be more than a worthy master."

Lucy went to the point. "Cause the guys ambitions kill anyone that even hints at getting in his way. Two armies couldn't do it, a hellish wasteland only getting worse isn't slowing him down. Now a god and the Grim Reaper herself couldn't do it! That Fucker is now in the middle of a developed nation, who have resources that eclipse our own and can easily fire dozens of city-killing bomb towards him. And you know what! I'm afraid for that nation, those poor bastards. Wanna know the scariest part? His luck is terrible, all he achieved was his own skill and willpower and never by unforeseen factors. Take it from me that you should just walk away."

Yao's face was one of shock. All of that was too much to believe, even for just one man. Then she realized that the other two in the front are considered his equals. A shudder went down her spine as their harsh world created legends that are now walking amongst them.

111 spoke out to the doting women. "Yeah, yeah, the big scary courier is coming to get you. Worry about that later, We need to test out the new gadget we have. The courier may be overblown but I know him owing me a favor will come in handy in the future." The mad scientist said annoyed.

101 gave an amused side glance to the person next to her. "Jealous of the fan club Six made?"

111 shook his head sideways. "I'm Jealous he's going to get a pet dragon before me. It's going to take me years to fully grow a full adult for myself."

101 felt a bit integer. "Would it be all that hard to make a second?"

"Nah I came to make self two and a third if you want one." He said snarkily.

101 gave an amused laugh and drove one until they hit the village of the Dark Elves. The meeting was like any other meeting with a tribe in the wasteland, except this one was filled with elves. They were different in their own ways but not enough that caught any of the parties attention. The Elders of the Village offered their finest warriors to the group and of course, 111 would have loved meat shields. 101 moved in to denied the help for the sake of the warriors. Of course they were insulted but they relented at the description of the plan. They knew it was better to steer away from suicidal madmen.

[dorment volcano]

111 flipped his lighter on and off in anticipation. He hid is a stealth field generator alone the other three women were inside ready to spring the trap. All he had to do is warn them when the giant red lizard came into view. Many who knew him wondered why he was so excited to capture the dragon. All he needed was confirmation that his device worked.

That would be true but he needed to see it with his own eyes. Not the mind controlled dragon but its severed limbs. He always enjoyed turning out cyborg beast. Improving upon God's work with steel and circuits and with the standards of old America gone. Oh boy he will have fun repairing Six's new pet. He's going to have more fun on having no limitations on his own when they're finished.

He sat there with a smile on his face and a lighter in his hand. His Bolt throwing Gauss rifle hummed softly next to his feet. Then his senses picked up a roar. Then the sound of eminence wings creating typhoons and finally the sight of a Fire dragon came over the horizon. He gave the go ahead and 101 and Six's latest Meatshield moved to active the clocking fields for the Drones. The two women worked hectic to activate the fields and when they finished the dragon landed in its nest without noticing the two of them. 111 tacked the small bots move silently s they dragged the mind-controlling over the head of the fire dragon.

With a quick single from 111's pip-boy, the drone moved to outfit the dragon with headwear. Seconds ticked by and the stealth boys they improved as stealth fields came close to their sell-by date. Still, 111 had a few backup plans ready, if the fields failed. The drones will overload their weapons and fire a simultaneous stunning shock. If that didn't work he'd have to use the poison tip rails he created to slow the monster down. Again if that failed he could always detonate the mini-nuke stash they buried under the nest. He had many more backups like it and still his sixth senses were going crazy something was coming.

For some reason, nothing bad happened. The Drones dropped the dragon crown on the lizard and it activated. It knocked out the monster as it reset its mind and it slowly rooted in its mind. Digging deep and rooting itself as it re-wrote the dragon's mind. 101 and meat shield even radioed in the success of the mission. 111 was still weary. All his life has taught him that something always went wrong. From a Chinese ambush that kills your team and leads you to capture, a nuke that destroys your family. thats his pre-war life taught him.

He just sat there waiting. His teammates were getting annoyed and started to throw witless insults towards him. He slow felt his actions were just paranoia as time slowly ticked away. Then it was all vindicated when mad laughter echoed across the volcano. 111 snapped his sights towards the source of the sound. He saw a blue skin woman with wings, carrying a massive scythe. 111 knew anyone defying the laws of physics had to be trouble. Her next words only cemented his hypothesis.

"It seems like a couple of mortals found themselves in the presence of a demigod. Bow Mortal to the apostle of Hardy, Giselle!" The blue lady said with gusto.

Both Lucy and 101 looked at one another. "Um, Lady?" 101 said. "I don't know you are."

Giselle was annoyed. "I just told you!" She screamed.

"But I feel like you have issues that you need to figure out yourself. Go to any loved ones you know and ask them for help. That should get you on track on being normal again." 101 said with a steady regular voice.

Lucy looked between them and slowly walked away. Giselle landed hard on the obsidian floor and marched to the power armored woman until they were face to face. "Who do you think you are mortal. I am a demigod and I am above you! So plead for mercy and bow down to your rightful master." Giselle said as she planted a finger on her chest piece.

101 looked at the hand touching her. "Get your stinking hand off my Armor." 101 said low and hard.

Giselle let out a large cocky smile. With a hand gesture, she beckoned two smaller child dragons to her sides. They both landed hard, sending debris into the air. "I bread this fire dragon with a water dragon in a nearby river. I natured them into my pets and they are hungry."

Both 111 and Lucy had a chill run down their spines, not because of the two new dragons. But because 101 had a shit ton of firepower on her and she was in the middle of a mini-nuke landfill. Lucy aimed her weapon ready to end the fight cleanly and 111 started commanding the drones. 111 worked quickly but he was surprised at the sound of a Gatling laser dropping. The mad doc raised his head to see 111 had released her weapon with a Giselle letting out a victorious laughter. Then was promptly shut up by a lightning super sledge smashing her head in. The impact sizzled and with a thundering crack, Giselle's head disappeared in a mist of gore.

The two babes moved to attack their master's slayer. 111 drones de-clocked and unloaded a volley of stunning electricity. 111 was surprised at the little bastards shrugging the energy off. Still, it caught the monsters attention and the due babies moved to attack the drones. 111 wasn't quick enough to send the retreat command and the eyebots were ripped apart by the maws of the baby dragons. 101 decided that she would use this distraction to enter into melee.

She fought like a mad woman, she swung her enchanted hammer with practiced ease. The dragons fought back with fanged jaws and clawed hands, bitting, and swing towards the power armored woman. 101 masterfully doughed and countered the two dragons almost looking as if she was going to win, Almost.

111 saw that the baby dragons were gaining ground. She fought back with greater energy. Her mind raced to form a plan while fighting back the two little devils. She had to wonder where was her back up, she was quickly answered. A hail of 5.56 round impacted their hides. Lucy used her Bozar to distract one of the monsters and allowed 101 to focus he attention on one of the beasts. She whaled on it, crushing its flesh with powerful blows and tore chunks of flesh with explosive enchanted lightning. The baby dragon was dying by 101's hands but its brother was charging towards Lucy who was unprepared for a close battle. 111 decided to intervene here. He loaded a 15x50mm tungsten bolt into the gauss rifle chamber. With a humm, the rifle charged and it fired the bolt moving at Mark 10. The speed of the metal created enough fiction and ignited the atmosphere near it, leaving a trail of smoke behind it as it raced towards the babies dragon neck. The bolt impacted hard and it shattered on the dragons hide. 111 was surprised at the monsters durability but it wasn't invisible. The small dragon may have survived the bolt but just barely. It was knocked meters away and a chunk of flesh where the bolt impacted was blown off. The poison he made for the monster also seem to take effect, the blue beast stained down and a sensation of pride filled 111.

The pained grunts of a woman could be heard. The three-person group turned and saw Giselle getting back up with a head on her shoulders. This intrigued 111 and he steps out of his stealth field to get a closer look. Giselle took a few seconds to get adjusted to her surroundings and by the time she was fully awake, the three-man party surrounded her. She reached for her weapon but found it in the hands of the armored woman.

"Filthy mortal! Unhand my weapon!" She screamed as she gestured for her dragons. When they didn't come, she looked around. She found to bodies, one still and unmoving and the other was pummeled to a pulp. The blue woman panicked, she stretched her wings and tried to fly away, only to be blown away by laser fire. She fell onto the rocky stone floor with a sickening wet thud. 111 watched in glee as the demigod regenerated in front of him.

"Your just perfect and exactly what I am looking for! You'll solve one of humanity biggest problems!" 111 screamed excited.

Giselle gave a hard look towards the man in the robes. "Ha! You'll never get immortality from me boy!" She said, telling him off for his arrogance.

111 just laughed maniacally. He took the lantern on his hip and activated it. The two front doors slid open and a skinless head of Lorenzo screamed without uttering any sound. His pip-boy beeped that the mind controlling process was finished and the dragon was his to command. As Giselle was slowly lifted into the air 111 spoke again. "No I'm not talking about immortality, I already have that. I'm talking about you being an infinite food source for our new pet." He said as the mind controlled fire dragon swallowed Giselle whole. Doom to be melted down and consumed for as long the dragon lives and to be forgotten by her underwhelmed god.

As the laughter died down from 111, 101 turned to him and told him something. "Well, that was neat… Dibs on riding the Dragon home!"

Both 111 and Lucy looked at 101.


	13. Chapter 13

**I've decided to remove the word limit. I've learned its not the amount I write that affects the speed of the uploads, but how many times I get writer's block. Oh, I've also decided to make short stories about the three fallout main characters. Its short history lessons about their past and would normally not making into the main storyline. This one I have on display is one I sent to a Someguy an anon to explain what happen to Preston. This is also a two-parter by the way. Since this is a pretty big event and the second part is going to be pretty long. After that, we head on to the next big event that probably last around six to seven chapters. Then its the ending event.**

 **I will also be asking questions at the beginning of the chapter. I would be reading and giving my own opinion.**

 **Question of the chapter: Is there a difference between a synth and a human.**

 **My Answer: I do believe there is a difference. Synths are almost exact replicas but have one major difference. We, humans, have an excuse to be flawed and are unable to remove such flaws. Synths don't have the same excuse as us to be either greedy, prideful or angry. If a synth is born, we don't want them like us, we want them better than us. To not only care for their own existence but to care for the happy existence of everyone and derive pleasure from it.**

Chapter 13- The deal went south! Part 1

Six was in the middle of his planing the technological exchange. There were dozens if not hundreds of factors he needed to take into account. If any single one of them were not taken into account, they might end up destabilizing the governments of the world and cause millions if not billions of deaths. That's why he's tweaking every single one of them to be the worst possible scenario while aiming any blame of any future disasters of New Vegas. Still, everything is moving smoothly for the moment, except for one thing.

A knock was heard and then the double doors swung open to reveal two people. One clade the heavy rig version of power armor and the other a woman wearing a beautiful cocktail dress, with shopping bags in each side.

"As a representative of the west brotherhood branch, I cannot condone what you are doing!" The power armored figure bellowed out in a commanding voice.

"I have to agree with Paladin Danse six. The shopping here is just majestic compared to the wasteland. Oh! Unless we can strike a deal revolving around doing your thing and getting all the sparkling dresses." The woman sang while twirling around to make the skirt of her dress dance.

"Elder scribe Veronica, compose yourself! We're here to stop a tragedy!" Danse told Veronica off.

"Right right right! Sorry about that, it's just… I just look so fine! Do you think my gal will love it when I wear it for her!" Veronica said in her normal snarky tone.

Six smiled at his old companions joy. "I think she will, in fact, tell me about her. It will be refreshing to talk again" Six said with a genuine smile on his face.

"Oh six, I'm just so happy. We've been planning to tie the knot for a while now an-" Veronica was cut off by her counterpart.

"Enough! We have to talk!" Danse demanded.

Six lead back on his chair with a frown on his face, annoyed at his friendly reunion being disturbed. He stared daggers at the helmeted face of paladin Danse and saw him feat shift as and his helmet lense attempt to avert its gaze."101 already gave the green light for the plan. You have no right to speak out." Six said in a hard voice.

Danse didn't back away but he was shaken. He knew the legends and the boogie men stories from the legions. On how the legate challenged the courier into single combat when he was fresh and six was tried from the hours of combat. The butcher was stung upside down on a burning cross in front of all of his men, with Six holding a bloody ball pein hammer and a thunderous battle cry in his throat. The man was capable of impossible feats of martial prowess when faced with a challenge. Still, he had a moral obligation to uphold.

"The Brotherhoods mission is to stop technology from destroying the human race and your planning to go against those tenets. I cannot just stand by, I have to stop your mad strategy." Danse said firmly towards the leader of New Vegas.

"My friend, come, take a scene. I want to tell you something." Six told Danse in an uncomfortable soft voice.

Paladin Danse marched forward in his power armor until he stood in front of the desk made of wood he didn't know. In fact, he knew nothing about types of wood. The Paladin couldn't sit on the padded chair due to size and weight of his armor. Instead, he opted to stand and tower over six.

Veronica was going to join in the conversation and standby Danse. She steps up next to the Paladin with her arms crossed.

The courier just locked his fingers together and raised his head to stare at Danse, fixing him with a stone cold stare. "Danse, these people are on the edge. We have a choice to repeat histo-"

Paladin Danse interrupted him. Paladin knew what kind of rehearsed crap six was going to spew and he wasn't going to take it. He's planning to ruin a whole world with technology and he had to stop it. "We both know what you're planning! I bet if I checked on the files you're working on, I'll find it covered with every possible mistake. You know what you're doing!"

Six's hands clasped together in a death grip and his jaw locked. The Couriers cold eyes became daggers attempting to kill the person he was looking at. Still, he didn't lose composure. Veronica added her own argument. "There are billions of people lives on the line here and you're going to ruin them. For once Six, please don't think with cold calculations and for once try to think about anything else!" The scribe told off her former companion.

"Then give me an alternate and a good one." Six told them deadpan.

Veronica was the first to answer. "Ask the Japanese government for help. We won't need to invade the empire and avoid a bloody war. Then we can exchange technology and help each other from making past mistakes" Veronica pleaded.

Danse decided to give his own two cents. "I don't agree. It would be safer to just cut off relations and attempt to keep the dangerous technology under wraps." Danse answer was typical Brother doctrine. The organization may have changed but their goal of hoarding tech and improving them to be safer remained intact.

Six saw the flaws in both of these plans immediately. "Veronica, these people know how to solve our problems the amount I know about Mirelurk mating rituals, Jack shit. These people are in a global peace, yes, but they are going to fall to the same problem we got around the oil reserves in about twenty years. There are no good alternatives for it and any funds to research them are to low to make any real progress." Veronica's hands gripped themselves into fists.

Then Six turned to Danse next. "Your whole idea about protected these people isn't helpful, it's downright detrimental. The 2nd Gate humans are not us, they is no random wasteland stumbling upon a nuclear cache here. No, these are developing nation advancing scientific breakthroughs at a rapid pace. They are going to get robots, fusion, and fabricators, with or without our help. It might not be today, it may not be tomorrow, but they will get it. When I do drop the blueprints, it's up to them if the nations of the world can adapt. If they can't in their most prosperous, then they can't when things get dire."

Danse inhaled quickly. "Six couldn't be right about his theory. The Japanese from what he read is far off from their level of technology. It would take centuries to figure out the fabricator. Then again their robotic are incredibly advanced for their time, by the time they reach 2077, they'll have machines that make their look primitive by comparison. They might even invent synths years earlier than they have and fall to robotic revolt. They have to stop them… But how. They are struggling to compete with one of the world's least militaries countries, how in the hell would they fight this worlds china or America.

The massive power armor from of Danse tilted forward in defeat. "I-I don't know. There no real answer to it." Still, the paladin didn't agree with Six. "Still there must be a better way than railroading a whole civilization into destruction!"

Six shook his head in regret. "No, there isn't. They must either learn on their own in the harshest condition or suffer a future where a single mistake can destroy the world."

Veronica put her foot down. "Six! That just pulling a fear mongering act! You can't possibly believe anything you say is true!"

The courier didn't say a word. Instead put a finger up for them to wait and started typing into the desktop of his computer. It only took him a few seconds to get the video up. He took his monitor and swung around so the two of them could see.

For five grueling and minutes, it showed a machine and their advances. Advancing A.I. and years of advancements that eclipse their own in from the same year. Six watched their reactions, ones from moderate curiosity to complete horror. The video ended and they were completely silent. Six spoke. "These people are making advances in the field that once was impossible without advance nuclear understanding to give ridicules power needs. They are not going to slow down any time soon. The is a grantee chance of our two nation going to war, our philosophies are just polar opposites and with economies that are completely independent, there will be screams for blood. They will say we are tyrants without understanding our conditions and we will only become embittered from outsiders interference."

"We must cripple them before they grow too big," Danse muttered.

"Exactly" Six confirmed.

Veronica saw the lunacy of the logic. "That's decades away!" She pointed out.

"Yes, that what I meant. We are capable of taking care of ourselves and must rebuild our own economy before we can trade with these people and by the time we can, they'll only see us as barbarians swiping away a hand that tried to help."

Veronica wouldn't accept the things was saying. "You're just saying these things because that means putting your future in somebody else hands." Veronica accused.

Six had to admit to himself that she was partly right. He only believes in the future that he commanded, that's how the wasteland molded him to be. He was determined but completely inflexible in his goals. A trait needed in the wasteland but not here. Still, there was exceptions and good reasons why he doesn't accept help from the Japanese.

"I've made alliances with two people who rival myself in power. I know I can't control the future and wouldn't if I could. Veronica, you know me. I could have become a warlord with the securtions at my command, I can live like a king within New Vegas and never see the wasteland again. Instead, I walk it and figure out what we need. I understand what it needs more than anyone else and you know it. You know every other choice was rotten or outright wrong morally, search for other options, I left no other avenue unturned. If you want I can show you detail everything I search and you will see there is no other option." This time the courier's voice was soft and general.

Veronica's panicked thoughts were claimed and the memories of Six taking the extra mile to create the perfect outcome and executing them like no other could. He deserved to explain his plan to someone with an open mind and not one purposely trying to stop it at all cost. "Fine! But you better show me everything tomorrow and you better have not overlooked anything. I'd never let you live it down."

Six chuckled. That was my sole motivator. Your relentless teasing is what keeps me up at night."

"Then I better keep an eye on you. Maybe I'll get you to stop slacking." Veronica joked.

The two Brotherhood members spoke to Six further in other pressing matters but they were of the mundane quality. After that, the three said their goodnight and both brotherhood member walked off to their respective room. Six, on the other hand, got a message on his pip-boy.

He found the sergeant on the other side of the tempory of the temporary Embassy, in the pool room. Inside was the figure of the armored form of his Desert Jackal massive form cuddling a tiny pool cube, he was trying to aim the cube to knock a fresh group of balls. That is at least what six assume he was doing, he had no idea how the game was played, he never really took part in bar games. He never really drinks in bars either, he only entered them for jobs.

Either way, he moved to talk with the man. "I've heard you caught some bad news. I would have preferred that it was good news, buts it's better to have something than nothing." The courier told his Non-comm.

The power armored man thrust the pool cube forward and the white ball was able to impact the grouping of multicolored balls and scatter them. All of them entered a hole and made a muffled thump. "Yeyup" The man grunted out as he stood up straight to talk to the courier. "Your plan is making massive waves and quite a few people even caught on to it. Well, sort off, They know that you have a plan, but the theories that they are making are way off." The old veteran said.

"They are expecting me to ask for something big, or some sort of movement?" The courier asked.

"Variations of those two, yeah. I think you've painted a massive target on you. I mean just a bullseye the size of the moon with flashing colors rivaling the sun big." The sergeant exclaimed in a snarky tone.

Six just chuckled at that. "Afraid I made your job a hella lot harder?"

"I serious here!" The sergeant snapped. "I've already spotted four possible assassins in the past hour. This place is become too dangerous to hang out with our jimmy's hanging out. As your head of security, get your ass back to camp. Hell! Get everyone's asses back to camp, because if just one person dies, then it will be a massive diplomatic incident." the Sergeant warned.

Six crossed his arms and face fell deep into thought. "I guess we don't have to stay here, we can prep the package and come back in a time schedule. I'm sure the Japanese will understand. Let's just hope the people who know don't act too rashly." Then the courier remembered he was dealing with humans, the most self-destructive species history has ever seen and he bets that this earths humans are no different.

He moved forward, making sure that something obstructed him from a window. The sergeant lit up in amusement at watching the courier duck and wave like a madman, both as the silliness of it and that it was a sign that he agreed with him. "I already made preparations for it. We can go as soon as tomorrow but I fear that I'm missing something, there just so many new factors that this world offers." The sergeant said in defeat.

The courier made it next to the power armored man in the light rig version of power armor. The veteran took this opportunity to put on his helmet and shield the courier, turning himself as a makeshift cover, in case of any snipers have their crosshairs on six. It was an effective idea but if he had the heavy version of the power armor, he'd be able to just step out of it and give it to the courier. As he watched the checkered suited legend fix him with a questioning stare, he knew the courier wouldn't have accepted. The young man was just too confident of his ability to find danger before it hit him that it was common for the boy to just worry about those around him. Not because of some sort deep-rooted scenes of caring but normally he was slowed down by the effort of others. In anyone else, the sergeant would have socked them on the jaw for being so hot-headed, the courier was the exception but it still annoyed him.

The courier spoke. "Speaking of new factors, I may have borrowed an interesting… gifts."

The Sergeants face was obscured by his helmet but it was obvious to the courier that he didn't know. Six reached into his pocket and pulled out a rectangle piece of glass with plastic covering the edges and back. With a motion of his thumb, the courier turned the object on to show an image of a grassy field with small assorted pictures strew about. In the center was the time of the night presented in bold numbers and the Sergeant was taken in by the item. He threw a quick guess of what it is. "That sort of fancy earth 2 o'clock?"

The courier smiled. "Better, it's what these people call a smartphone but it's more of a computer that happens to have a phone attachment." Then he asked a quick question. "And I'm assuming this place is suppose to be earth 2?"

"Just a quick nickname I just thought of." The Sergeant answered. Then he returned to the machine in six's hands. "That thing, how does it stack up to a pip-boy?" He asked a bit worried at the technology earth's two humans held.

"The pip-boy was the best portable computing device that earth 1 ever created. The ability to keep track of your health that made it a portable doctor and the v.a.t.s. system that made the second stretch into minutes made it into a wasteland best friend. This smartphone in the other hand had none of those things and still, it blows the pip-boy out of the water. The hardware and software of this little thing could upgrade the Pip-boy and make it hundreds of times more powerful than the original." The courier said the words as facts, leaving no room for doubt, still, the man continued. "Wanna know the biggest bombshell? This is a cheap version meant to be easily available to most people. Eight gigabytes of ram and memory is cheap to these people. Gigabytes!" The courier laughed at that.

The sergeant in the other hand was more excited at the prospect of having a sample of such technology. "Do you have better versions of these things? And if so, how are we going to sneak them by Japanese customs?" The man asked the concert at unknowns.

The courier already had answers. "They don't know our computing abilities or at least our ability to miniaturize circuits is severely lagging behind their own. Turns out if you lug around eye-bots, people just assume your better at programming than them. Because of that, we can just ask to bring such products as advertisements to our own people. The Japanese will be able to buy that. If not, we can just ask it as an exchange for our tech. You know the ones that are planned to destabilize the governments." The courier explained.

"Right, that means more paperwork for me." The sergeant complained.

The courier nodded in agreement. "I already finished the files, I just need to send them via their fax machine." The courier said.

"Fax?" the sergeant asked perplexed.

"Another great invention of the human from earth one. It really is a quality of life improvement and something that makes me wonder on how Robco. didn't think about." The courier told his bodyguard.

"Damn, are we taking that too?" The sergeant asked.

"Later, we can't be too greedy or the Japanese will know they have a deck of cards." The courier said. "Speaking of later, it's around 1 A.M. and I haven't slept for five days. I need to sleep or I'm going to see ghosts." Six said with a large yarn.

The two said their good nights and Six floated toward his nonradioactive fluffy bed. The courier slept like a rock, as his tried body finally had a moment of rest. Still, there are people out there who won't let the courier have another rest for a long time.

The Sergeant was spot on when he said people saw through his bosses deception, what he wasn't counting on was how prolific the information network earth 2 had. The preparations of getting the courier out safely were already known, networks of spies and bugs that is far greater than anything than the wasteland has ever seen was already leaking the news. Dozens of scared CEO's of billion dollar companies were panicking, who political parties from dozens of nations were arguing and world leaders were preparing every organization to make sure the future is kind to them. The Sergeant thought he had only a few hundred problems to deal with, he thought that news would spread so fast in such an isolated nation. The Sergeant didn't truly understand what the internet was until it was too late.

Hundreds or merchs, assassins, special agents, and many more were given a similar target. The courier and anyone affiliated to him.

There already was a hit squad on its way to get their target, only to be intercepted by the Japanese government. An assassin had C4 explosives readied in the path the courier was planned to take, he was taken down by a Mi6 Agent. Terrorist sleeper cells were awakened and had garage built guns readied to attack the courier. Those were stopped by a CIA intelligence and the Japanese military. More stories like these played out across the city that Six was in. Each one intercepted by agencies who wanted the exchange of technology to go down. Still, even with most of the world governments working together working together so well in the first time in history, it still wasn't a perfect defense. There were many who did want the deal to go down, but the army more knew that their way of life would be ruined if every nation was able to have nearly infinite resources.

It would only take one, to ruin everything. The one that did was the most dangerous, a plan from the inside took place.

The Scribe Stoneheart walked alone within the sewers, with his lower robes covered in filth. His face was covered by a thick cloth and on his back was a duffle bag. It didn't stop the rancid stale air made the Scribe gag. Stoneheart was currently trying to find where the sewers ran under the temporary embassy of New Vegas. He was there alone, no other member of the brotherhood or any wasteland faction knew he was there and he wanted that way.

The other wouldn't understand, not when the two representatives came back telling the rest of them that no progress was made. The scribe Veronica obviously swayed by a past friend, he expected such from someone who abandoned tradition so easily. Then he saw Danse, a man who he thought embodied the old codex also yield at his duty. There was no one able to talk that madman of a courier down. He was going to extreme actions that outright defied the old traditions of the brotherhood. Something he held dear to his heart and something he planned to teach the newer generations, so it could live on. At least that's how he explained it to himself.

When 101 came and gave the outcast an ultimatum, blood was split. The woman crushed his family and showed their ways would not last if they fragmented. She had shown that people had to adapts and they were prime examples of it and the ruins of their base was a warning to them. Still, many died defiantly to the bitter end. It was why he decided to take what remained and cooperated with the woman, he expected his ways to be passed down, to make the sacrifice worth it. Over the years he thought that he was making progress, his natural skills and experience with the outcasts made him rise through the ranks. People trusted him and even turned to him for advice, even the bitch of the east, the woman of steel saw him as a valuable member.

He would have been glad to remain that way, ignoring the knot in his stomach every time he was told to create a civilian-friendly version of the technology. To hand it out to farmers and merchants, to nurture the rise of civilization. He was able to hold it back because it showed signs of irrefutable evidence of being true. THAT! Was stretching thin his loyalty, here where the tyrant of vegas outright stated he would destroy a whole world with the very thing he swore to protect the world from, shattered him.

It was then he decided to scavenge the extra fusion cores from the heavy rig power units and turn it into a makeshift bomb. The power behind the makeshift nuclear bomb would be able to atomize the building easy and hopefully keep the collateral damage to a minimum.

Stoneheart stopped for a second to pull out a map from his pocket. He checks if he was still in the right directions and saw he was only a sixty meters away from his destination. He folded up the map and walked the rest of the way in a straight line. He neared the corner and made the turned casually. He didn't expect anyone to be down here so he forgot stealth. He was proven wrong when a flash of light blinded him.

"Ah!" The scribe yelled out and dropped his flashlight on the filth-ridden ground. The first thing he noticed was the yelling and then his eyes adjusted and saw men in tactical gear. They were running at him with guns raised and Stoneheart immediately notice them as Japanese soldiers, most likely of the special forces variety.

The scribe knew from the beginning this was a suicide run but didn't expect resistance. The logs told him that no one was posted down here and he didn't take the time to ponder why as he rigged the explosives. Now he knew why. The Japanese government posted guards in the sewers, still, they didn't fire immediately, most likely because they wanted him alive and they didn't see any firearms on him. At least weapon they recognized as firearms.

Stoneheart turned the corner and threw a flashbang behind him and covered his ears as he did rounded the corner. When a deafening sound ringed in the air, hearthstone pulled out a plasma defender. He poked out his head and saw the men stunned but already recovering. The scribe threw in a plasma grenade in next and returned to cover. He primed the makeshift explosive in his duffle bag and ran the last fifteen meters to his objective.

The grenade detonated and let out a superheated burst of plasma into the air, vaporizing anything in a five-meter area, anyone beyond that point suffered third-degree burns. Hearthstone didn't know how many died and he didn't care, he was twelve meters away from entering the minimum range of the explosive. He saw a soldier rise and drew a beat on him, Stoneheart raised his gun and fired superheated plasma towards the soldiers center mass. It hit and burnt through the kevlar and melted the harden steel plate, adding to the damage done by the plasma. The soldier fell before he could even aim his rifle. Stoneheart fired again to the nearest trooper and hit one that wasn't even fully recovered from the flashbang. He fired again and this time he hit a leg of one of the Japanese and the plasma severed it from the body. Making the trooper to fall face first into the muck of the sewers.

Three meters away and Stoneheart readied to throw the bag the rest of the way. Several 5.56 rounds ripping through his legs before he could make it. Falling forward, only one meter away from the minimum range. He tried crawling but was stopped by a filth covered boot. His finger crawled at the filth, trying to make the last meters, to have a chance to kill that made courier. Any hopes were dashed away when he felt hands tear away the duffle bag from his shoulder.

A tear rolled down his cheek as his bomb would detonate and only achieve in killing a few pointless civilians.

Then one of the troopers started yelling orders to his comrades. Stoneheart didn't understand a word as they did so but he knew they have found the bomb. It was too late anyway, there were only thirty seconds left and doing anything to the devices would set off prematurely. A large hand grabbed him by the shoulder and violently turned him to face the old face young face of the Japanese man. In Broken English, he asked me a question.

"Is bomb?" He asked in broken English.

Stoneheart latched to the opportunity. "It's a makeshift fusion core bomb, that thing will destroy an entire block of buildings. The Courier… The courier is the one who ordered me to make it." The scribe lied.

The troopers face turned into horror and he screamed into his radio, he let out a couple of sentences before the bomb exploded.

Their detonation was massive, only rivaled by the first two nuclear bombs dropped on Japan. In the center, the power of atoms fusion reaction was released, creating a ball of heat that lasted less than a millisecond before violently unleashing all of its energy. The building they were under was a government building, a postal office, were seventy-two employees were painlessly atomized. The area surrounding it was not painless. The energy wasn't as potent but when it reach the other building, it was far more devastating. A burst of heat and radiation killed most unarmored humans and started several fires that would burn throughout the night. Then the shockwave caused billions of dollars worth of damages and destroyed, it was even able to shatter the windows of the buildings next block and killing a few extra civilians.

The New Vegas Embassy was not destroyed but it was right on the edge of Killzone. Instead, its windows shattered and a couple of fires were started, injuring a few personnel in the process. Veronica and Paladin Danse were awakened and pulled into an emergency Brotherhood meeting. The Sergeant was in his power armor, when it happens and raced to find the courier. He found the man alive but a bookcase fell on the man.

The next three hours was the most intense firefight the courier was ever apart of.

[short story or history lesson]

Ahem...

It was during the Boston rebellions and the brotherhood fleet that held both 101 and 6 was half a year away. This is the event that took thousands of lives and finally broke 111's trust in people. To be fair it was a really good reason and it was started with a newspaper. The fact that 111 didn't destroy the institute but overthrew the leadership and took charge was discovered by Piper. It only took weeks for news to spread and over half of his former allies created the rebellion. Only the Minutemen who were trained by 111 and the tamed institute stuck with him. The railroad was dead though and the brotherhood of steel was nowhere to be seen. Which meant it was the Commonwealth of Boston, who were organized and armed thanks to 111 past efforts, who were out to destroy him.

The Rebellion was a shot war but a very bloody one. Thousands of minute men were bearly organized by 111 past companions and they were the first targets for 111. Strong was the first to go when leading a charge of super mutants towards the fort. They didn't even make it to the gates when they were cut down by pinpoint artillery fire. Cait ran when Goodneighbour burned with napalm and Hancock was killed by an assassin assaultron in front of her. Dean tried sniping 111 from a highway but was intercepted by 111 gen 5 synths and was killed by plasma. Piper was blackmailed into staying loyal when 111 treated her sister from a deadly virus. Curie, Codsworth, and Ada stayed loyal due to reprogramming. Dogmeat also stayed loyal. At this point, the Rebellion was a husk of its former self and all being lead by Preston. He tried waging a gorilla warfare but the old habits are hard to kick and he didn't have a general to boss around.

He tried recruiting Cait and her new raider gang but was intercepted by 111 and his newly reformed Minutemen, who were now the Marines. Cait was cornered and executed by 111. Prestons remained rebels took heavy losses and broke after the battle. Preston finally accepted defeat and tried to reform the Minutemen as vigilantes. It only too 111 a day to track them down and find them attempting to help a well-off settlement. When the two met it was a battle of wills and each one exchanged words. In the end, Preston was like a kid trying to explain good and evil while 111 was pissed off royally by an ally who backstab him. 111 was just going to arrest the guy but he uttered the words that mean him to snap. Preston looks off into the distance and saw the settlement being defend from the raiders and surviving. He looked at a tried 111 and knew he still had a list. He took the list of settlements in danger of being attack and told 111. "Another settlement needs your help general." In a snarky voice. Like clockwork, Preston annoyed 111 for the last time and turned the man into a living self-aware clock. Oh, and Preston has to suffer through sensory deprivation whilst being a clock.

Yes, I play as an evil sole survivor in Fallout 4.


	14. Chapter 14

**Update: I've decided to use my profile summary as a board to give updates about my stories. That means if you want to know about my fan fic and their status just hope on to my profile summary and you'll know what's being worked on.**

 **There's also the matter of this storying coming to an end. Which will be in 2 to 3 chapter. Which means I will be promoting another story I'm writing and I can start another mini-series but that's the question. What will I work on next? I have three things in mind.**

 **1\. Mass effect X fallout- where a Citadel exploration ship crashes on the fallout world and they have to meet the inhabitants. This will be using the same courier of this fan fiction but the whole gate thing never happened.**

 **effect X Stellaris- This is where I cross over my in-game empire into the mass effect universe and have them cause trouble.**

 **Mass Effect X warframe- This will have a Joint Citial exploration fleet get stranded in the origin system and have them attempt to survive the chaotic system.**

 **Please PM which one you're interested in being written or don't. If no one responds, I'll just go with my gut. Thank you for your time and I hope you enjoy the chapter. All feedback is welcomed.**

Chapter 14- When God closes a door, he opens a window.

The sergeant held an injured Courier in his arms, a bloody stump of wood protruding from Six's torso. He moved around in an embassy thrown into chaos, as both brotherhood and Vegas personal moved around attempting to tend to the problem nearest to them. The only ones with a clear objective were Six's Desert Jackals as protocol dictates that they must organize themselves and receive orders from the senior officer. The Sergeant was that officer and he gave orders to assess the damage and then figure out who to blame.

The Jackal leader saw the infirmary pact with people with various injuries being forced to wait for each patient. Lucky for them is that medical treatment is a requirement to live in the wasteland and those who are fit to work tended to those needing it. When they saw the Sergeant carrying the mythical courier in his arms bleeding a river, they knew to part or suffer trampling under staturnite boots. A few did get in the way and an armored elbow or armored toe shoved them out of the way. The inside or the infirmary was even more crowded as the bleeding and burnt were being treated by both Vegas's doctors and Followers of the Apocalypse. The Sergeant stood a head taller than most men and that allowed him to find a brotherhood scribe bandaged at the torso getting off a medial bed. He rushed towards it, knocking those who got in his way out of it.

He dropped the courier on the bed and stared murder into the Follower surprised eyes. "Treat him, or lose those hands." The Sergeant growled.

The woman stood their stun, eyes wide in fear. The Sergeant snapped at her. "NOW!"

She got to work and moved to treat the wound that held the wood stump in the courier stomach. He couldn't stay and he hated that. The couriers augmented body was notoriously difficult to treat, as most medical instruments couldn't affect him and removing any shrapnel had to be done by an auto-doc as it sensors are the only thing that kind find them after his body regenerated. He just hoped a chair leg was an exception to that rule.

He thundered out and moved to the through the embassy towards the rather sizable entrance all. He found seven more Jackals there, armed with their weapons. 50 cal rifles, plasma repeaters, Gatling lasers, and Tesla cannons were visible on their persons. They all forgone pleasantries and moved to the matter of facts. One jackal with the number seven adorn on his chest plate spoke first. "The explosion was detonated a few blocks away and caused major damage to the Japanese city and injured 55% of our personnel. Expect hostile actions from the Japanese."

The Sergeant didn't question the why, only thought about what to do. If that was true, then the locals must think it was them who detonated the explosive. They wouldn't assume that unless they got some solid evidence, which means they were set up. It didn't matter, whatever it was must mean that they are going to get blamed for it and they have no good solid evidence counter it.

The Sergeant started to issue orders.

The Sergeant decided he was the best man for clean up. "Jackals 1, get the brotherhood and have them destroy all samples of tech we can't take with us." He jerked off his head and the man moved to issue his orders. He wasn't given specifics, that would take too long, instead, he was expected to solve the problem by any means necessary. It wouldn't be hard anyway, the brother was keen in keeping the tech away in the first place.

He knew the man would get the job done, his expertise as an ex-prospector who was known for finding the treasures of the old world gave him an edge. Hell, the man's obsessions made him nearly unstoppable at reaching his objective. One time he even cleared out a cave filled with a family of deathclaws to get a holotapes holding a list that held old world supply cashes.

He turned to Jackal 2. He wore a suit of power armor with extra thick plated of Saturnite and with Tesla coils doubled, creating a statue wreathed in lightning. If you wanted anyone by your side deep in tunneler territory, it is this guy. "You and activate the sonic diggers." The walking tank nodded and with speed that betrayed his size. In a few heartbeats, he was gone.

Jackal with multiple optic lenses stepped forward. "I can organize the eighty-three non-combatants ready to move in five minutes and have the fifty-three combat-ready personnel under your command in eight minutes." The sergeant turned to Jackal 3 and wasn't surprised at her forwardness. She is the one who would gather any important tactical data and is known for her curious personality. It sometimes gets scary around her as she is quite vindictive. The Sergeant nodded his approval and the jackal went stomping off.

Another Jackal in white power armor with a red cross step forward. Also known as Jackal 4. "I'll go join him, he'll need my medical expertise to get it done." The fourth jackal was off without confirmation. He already had the green when he was radioed about Six's condition. The sergeant knew that the courier's personal doctor would no just stabilized him but likely to speed up the recovery. Hell, he once took a man ripped in half from the waist down and got him to walk again, it wasn't pretty but he did it.

The other Jackal readied their weapons and had explosives primed. The Sergeant spoke. "We have to make sure that we at least try negotiation." The Sergeant receives multiple clicks of acknowledgment from his radio and he turned to the wooden double doors that led to the outside. He was sure there was a sizeable garrison already form to get an answer. The five power four power armored Jackals stomped off ready to salvage the situation but expecting a fight.

When the pushed the heavy wooden doors open, they found what they expected, a massive blockade of APC's and armed troopers. A floodlight illuminated the area. The five Jackals were out in the open with dozens if not hundreds of barrels aimed at them and itching to be fired. The four elite warriors were nervous but cool under the pressure. The Sergeant stepped forward, his plasma rifle holstered and armed raised. He calculated that forty percent of the weapons held by the Japanese would be more than enough to pound his armor until the meat juice. He hated the fact his armor would let him survive a bullet but not being pounded into meat paste.

He turned up the volume of his armor speakers and tired his best to talk down the angry people who had a fission generator detonate in their city. "Ummm, hi!" He said with his best poker face.

Things were quiet and he assumes they wanted him to speak. "I have no idea what that explosion was all about but it clearly wasn't us!"

They didn't seem to budge. The Sergeant probably thought it was the chain of command telling them to not engage until the representative was present. That would be fine if it wasn't for the fact that he didn't like the look of the Japanese soldiers. The bunch of them looked raddled or angry, both of which are not good for intense negotiations. It was made worse of the sight of some men in uniform covered in black ash and bandaged limbs. He knew these men were the ones nearest to the explosion and were most likely shell-shocked. One wrong move and a scared private would fire off their gun by accident and the whole thing will go to hell.

"I understand that most of you must be scared of what just happened. I have to assure you that we intend to cause no violence during our stay." The Sergeant should have picked his words better. At the utterance of violence, multiple young looking men and women hugged their weapons closed and kept their crosshairs planted on him. His Jackal reacted calmly but did notice that one of them primed the shoulder mounted plasma motor.

"I'd be more than happy to negotiate with one of your representatives. Anyone will do, just send them forward and we'll talk." The Sergeant said in his rough uneasy diplomat's voice. His gun felt uneasy in his hands as if having it lowed made him physically uncomfortable.

He waited for a solid minute. No one coming forth, making him wonder if he should have stayed quiet until someone did come forward or they are just disorganized as them. The entire scene was quiet for the time being until one of the troopers screamed. "Murderer! You killed my brother and now my father!" One of the Japanese troopers screamed at the Jackal.

His comrades let him vent his frustrations. Most likely because they felt the same. "You got away murdering our comrades in the special zone and now you bombed our city! You won't get away! Murderer!" One of the men of the line broke off to restain the man. Trying to haul him away to somewhere safe or at least out of sight.

This made the Sergeant somewhat nervous but knew he had to remain solid. More soldiers screamed their insults towards the man they saw as a mass murderer. A burning city lit behind them. He really did understand them. To meet an outside force and to watch as your home burn at their arrival. Them claiming to know better, only masking their ugly insides. The screams and accusations came to a silence as superior officers came to discipline their soldiers.

It became tense as every second past is another moment of fear and anger piling up. He needed someone to come forth before this wall of frustration broke and a firefight finally gave out. That something came in the form of an old man in a nice pressed suit. He came from the crowd of soldier filled with authority and confidences at least that's what he showed to be.

With a fix of his tie he spoke. "I am from the Japanese government and the one who will start communication. There will be no more conflict today. The soldier here will stand down but we require you to do the same."

The Sergeants release some of his tensions. "I will, but I need to know what's happening first before I let my guard down." He said in broken Japanese.

The representative nodded. "There was a bombing in the sewer system and the person who committed it was identified to be with the new vegas organization known as the Brotherhood of Steel." He said those last words as if he making it up as he goes.

The Sergeant cursed under his helmet. He liked those sons bitches and it was difficult to see them do something this extreme but a few did stand out to be unhinged. He continued to listen to the man's explanation.

"He admitted his actions to be hostile and calms your Courier to be the one who sent him." He said without stuttering.

The Sergeant froze for a minute. "Well Shit." He said to himself. He raised the volume of his speakers. "When everything starts calming down, we'll talk about it, for now, we must return and have our injured dealt with auto-docs."

At this, the Japanese representative gaze hardens and sadden at the same time. The Sergeant optic lens was able to zoom in and notice the expression. If he was going to say what he thought he was going to say then shots will be fired. There were contingency put up but with the miniature nuclear explosion that just went off, he had doubts if they were going to help him. He needed them too, with the armored vehicles aiming their large guns at him. Their power armor isn't tough enough to withstand the 50mm munitions and even if it could the sheer kinetic impact would snap their necks or turn them into red mush inside their armor.

The leader of the Jackal snarled at the representative's response. "I apologize but I must take him in. It's non-negotiable, the leaders of my nation insisted on it." There was a silence after that and the representative noticed this. "He will be treated with the utmost care under our custody."

The Sergeant gridded his pearly whites. This man really needed to watch what he said. The four desert jackals behind him started marking their targets, he was forced to tell to knock it off with his radio. These guys don't know that prisoner is different to them than it is theirs. He was used to the changing world, but some of the other Jackals are tribals who definition of prisoners is torture. Their massive bond of loyalty to Six also didn't help, if he died then their homes would lose the support the man gave. It created effective bodyguards but poor diplomats.

The sergeant tried one last chance to smooth something out. "I can't, he suffered greatly and is currently injured to the point where our auto doc is the only thing that can deal with his injuries." He was disappointed by the response he was given.

The well dressed representative gave a nervous smile. "I assure you that our medical facilities are more than adequate in treating any physical injuries. He will be treated with the utmost care but again, I have to bring him in. Please understand that the entire city is shaken due to this current attack." He pleaded with increased furver.

The Sergeant responded with a stronger tone. "We can't and won't. You have to see it in our boots. We don't know what's happening, that explosion had nothing to do with us and-" He was cut off by and solder that made up the blockade.

"Fuck you!" Screamed a trooper.

"Lier!" Screamed another.

"Monster!" Another Screamed.

Soon the entire crowd was screaming and moaning about a terrorist act or the people of New Vegas getting away with another mass murder. The soldiers were in no position of being of sound mind, the attack was something that Japan never experienced this generation. The death count was likely in the hundreds and a lot of them were soldiers that served with them. It didn't help either that this nation had decades of peace. With it being them shattered like glass with one swift motion of the hammer.

The Sergeant started to see people coming from the direction of the blast, they were covered in dust and wounds. Climbing out of the shattered windows and broken concrete, some were being carried out. The soldiers didn't seem to take notice, they were being calmed down by their officers and more level-headed of their number. The Sergeant knew that this could be broken off and time could be won if he could get them to focus on the survivors.

"Hey look! You have injured, you have to go and help them." He screams at them with a few steps taken forward. No one listened, they were becoming disorganized and more guns seem to shake in the hands of the younger looking ones in their ranks. The Sergeant tired again to warn the soldiers but it only seems to irritate them even more. He started to scream and inch forward, creating even more tension. It wasn't about disabling the situation anymore for the Sergeant, he saw more survivors climb out of the ruble and they seem to be in worse condition. He started walking, screaming his lungs out to tell the men to react about the dying. In frustration, he pointed a power armored finger at the direction of the survivors of the blast and it finally put it over the edge.

No one knew who fired the shot or whether it was on purpose. They just knew that when the bullet bounced off the chest plate of the Sergeant, his teammates reacted in kind.

The first plasma mortar was flying across the air before the second Japanese bullet could be fired. The green grenade arched high up in the sky and then quickly started dropping, aimed towards one of the lightly armored vehicles with the turret on top. The Sergeant knew what was coming next and radioed in to get the force field fence up. Both when the plasma motor exploded, the big M. pattern force field sprung into life and just in time to receive the 12.7mm bullets.

It was war, no more question, and no more peace talks. The heart of the Sergeant sunk, to see another moment of stress and fear being up another war. It was going to happen because war... war never changes, regardless of time, location or reality.

The Sergeant activated the escape plan for them and the rest of the staff inside the now-defunct embassy. Left stranded in the middle of an enemy city with more injured than capable fighters, which made the Sergeant feel so much better. His area of expertise is life and death situations, not talking with silver tongue fat cats. It was like flipping a switch and now knew exactly what to do.

"Jackal 7, 6, and 5 unloaded your explosives into the blockades and get them to retreat. " he ordered on his radio and almost mechanically they loaded another motor and prepared their grenades. The Sergeant drew his own and with their implants and installed V.a.t.s. Systems they threw all four grenades at the remaining APC's. Green explosions lit up the night and the other Japanese soldiers kept on their fire, peppering the force fields that protected the building.

The Sergeant turned to his Jackals. "Everyone that can hear me on the radio, get everything set for a full retreat to the Gate, shit went up the river and were at war. I repeat we are at war!" A chorus of responses and questions assailed him and made them all wait, the only thing that mattered was one thing. He ran into the building and his other four Jackal followed him. "Fuck any questions, we have ten minutes to get everything packed and destroy anything we can't carry. Get the injured who can fight a gun and those who can't put them on stretchers. We're going in ten, I repeat were going on ten!" He orders to everyone that was one the radio.

He turned to see the other Jackals already getting explosives rigged up to slow any incoming enemy advance. He felt proud of them but knew it wasn't going to do much in the long run. Still, he wondered how well the fields were going to hold, the gunfire was intense and they must be ordering reinforcements in the form of tanks or aircraft. He hoped the latter was tied up on something else, but it was likely they were sending them here to fly over the force field and dropping troops on top of them. It was a glaring weakness in there defense and decided it was worth investing in.

He clicked his radio on. "Jackal 7 and 6, get your asses up on the roof and make sure no one surprises us." they gave their confirmations with efficient speed. The Sergeant turned to his last two Jackal left to him. "Jackal's get the field ready and expect the force field to fail soon. Back then the engineers said this thing could hold for an hour but with the bomb that was set off, I'm not so sure." They both nodded. The three of them got to work in creating the hallway into a Killzone.

Jackal 6 and 7 were known for their teamwork together as they both came from the same origin. both were ex-slave to the Ceasars legion and both waged a hit and run war against them. It was when they became an actual threat was when the legion decided to concentrate on them was when they form an alliance of all resistance groups ready to fight against their suppressors. It was a horrible slaughter for the resistance and only when the courier came with his Securitron army where they able to save what remained. Now the two of them pledged their loyalty to the famous courier and his goals.

The Sergeants was correct in his assumption that the Japanese would drop troops in the roof. The two jackals watched as floodlights washed over the roof of the damaged embassy, never passing over the two power armored figures. They were clocked with stealth boy technology and were using it to set up cryo mines. The two finished just in time as ropes extended from the flying vehicles and Japanese men in both tactical riot gear and military camo propelled down, their rifle dangling in front of them.

Jackal 7 aimed the newly created 50 cals. Assault rifle with explosive ammunition loaded in the magazine. He also prepared his back mounted motor to fire a single flash grenade when Jackal 6 got into position. Jackal six ran to the opposite side were his teammate laid in waiting he made in time to see around twenty-four Japanese soldier spreading out, sweeping the area to find any hidden surprises. They did and scream out that the enemy had laid out landmines. They reacted quickly and started to move away from the minefield but realized it was laid out in such a way that it would fondle them in a choke point and would allow a machine gun to mow them down.

Jackal 7 chuckled at his trap being sprung, he raises his rifle and opens fire at the group up men. Both heavy caliber rifle fire and screams filled the air and soon after Jackal 6 switched to his Tesla cannon to aim it at the helicopter providing overwatch. The beam of bright white lanced towards the flying vehicle and it circuits where overloaded, causing its propeller to stall and drop like a rock. It slammed onto the roof and causing it destabilized the building further. The Japanese reacted with inexperienced but their training kept them together. Their lines rushed for cover as the machine guns on the other helicopters pepper the general area where the gunfire came from. The Jackal also planned for retaliation and Jackal 7 fired his motor, its oversized flash bang blinding anyone not wearing photoreactive lens. The soldiers from Japan were caught off guard and suffered from the flashbang, falling into disorder and becoming easy victims to the Jackal assault rifles. The pilots in the helicopter were also caught by the blast and reared away for a bit but was a fatal move for their comrades. Half their number was cut down and they still couldn't see their opponents.

After a few seconds of firing the Jackals retreated into the shadows and reappear somewhere else, laying down murderous fire to any expose trooper in their sight. Some of them were unlucky enough to step on a cryo mine and set it off, creating a cloud of coolant and flash freezing the soldier. Creating a statute with their faces contorted into one of pain and horror. It was enough for the Japanese commanding officers to call a retreat but the Jackal continued to harass the fleeing men.

The armored helicopters landed to retrieve their men and get out of the ambush. The Jackal 6 radioed their success as he aimed his Tesla cannon at another fleeing helicopter, pulling the trigger and watching it suddenly stall mid-flight. The Sergeants voice came in. "Alright good but we're leaving now. Meet us at the basement we gonna collapse the building and dig our way out." The two jackals shared a look but decided it wasn't the weirdest order they've received.

The two Jackal rushed to their objectives and made it to a cramped basement filled with brotherhood and Vegas soldiers alike. Behind them were the injured piled on wide stretchers and strapped together. It was a mess of misery and fear filling every inch of the room. There were both scribes and vegas diplomats armed with weapons they knew how to wield but were comfortable with. Jackal 6 saw their medic working on the bandage of one of the injured, it was a brotherhood scribe with a 9mm submachine gun. They turned to another Jackal, his multiple optical lenses over his helmet marked him as an engineer, he was handing out the already scarce weapons and ammo to anyone who can wield one. Jackal 6 and 7 found the Sergeant in the front talking with Danse and Veronica. They both gave a click to announce their arrival and moved to help with their brothers in arms.

The Sergeant heard the radio click from both Jackals 7 and 6 filed it away for later. He turned to Danse and Veronica, both in a suit of heavy rig power armor. The Paladin was inside his suit of power armor when the explosion hit and Veronica suffered an injury on her leg making the suit she wears as a sort of crotch. The Sergeant feared one thing above all than anything else at that moment and that is leadership going to suffer due to friction. He hopes this conversation will advert any fears he holds.

"We don't have much time so I might as well make this quick. I need command of the current forces we have." He said as a matter factly.

The Sergeant couldn't see their faces as they were obscured by their helmets but knew it was disapproval. Seconds past but the Jackal didn't have the time to spare. "I need an answer now, at any moment they could break through the energy shield and we need to be united when they do."

Veronica looked at Danse, they both were having a private conversation utilizing their helmets comms. Then she looks back at the Sergeant. "Look, I of all people understand how stubborn the brotherhood can be but I can't just give the command of the brotherhood to you."

He knew if he couldn't get Veronica to budge then convincing them could take hours. Something he did not have. "Damn it! Look I have a plan but I need command." The Sergeant pleaded.

Veronica was going to talk but Danse interrupted. "That's not going to happen. Brotherhood forces were never commanded by a non-brotherhood officer in its history." Danse told The Sergeant.

The Jackal leader gritted his teeth and decided subtlety was not in his skill set. "For the love of, we are literally surrounded by thousands of well equipped and well-trained soldiers and you want to test your luck with our forces divided!" The Sergeant screamed at the Paladin.

Veronica decides everything was out of control and it needed to stop. "Alright! How about you tell me the plan and I can order the rest of the brotherhood forces to follow them." she suggested.

Danse shot an incredulous look at her which the woman ignored. The Sergeant's head turned to meet Veronica's visor. "That would work as long the Brotherhood is a flexible fighting force. If you can promise me that they can do that then It's a deal."

The two couldn't take any time to speculate on the details She knew of the brotherhoods notorious track record of stubbornness. A massive problem as she doubted her fellow soldiers would throw their decades of training and teaching to the gutter and follow another doctrine. She only had one answers. "Well they better of they are going to be forced to watch as their toys get picked apart by a curious scientist."

A loud blast of circuitry frying cut all conversation and the Sergeant knew his time was up. "I'll explain as soon I can but I have to initiate step one." The two Brotherhood leaders looked at the man incredulously.

"What is part one?" Danse asked with reasonable worry.

The Sergeant pulled out a detonator and told them exactly what he was going to do. "I'm going to detonate the strategically placed explosives and have them bury us." He pulled the trigger and ear piercing explosions were heard a second after. Then the sound of wood splintering and steel bending followed it. Everyone in the room didn't panic but were visibly scared at the building collapsing. Then the roof of the basement shook with dust and bits of ceramic falling to cover the besieged wastelanders. The Sergeant prayed to any being listening that the blueprints were right and the roof would hold. He felt his heart skip a beat when it groans with the stress of the wrecked building on top of it. People were stunned still at the stress of the situation.

The Sergeant in the other hand had to keep moving. "Don't stand there gawking! The building collapsing only bought us time to dig through the basement into the sewer system!" He screamed at the top of his lungs.

The Jackal burst into motion, immediately directing the New Vegas personnel. The Sergeant turned to Veronica. "I need your scribes to help the mechanics." A Staturnite gauntlet grabbed his shoulder. The Sergeant turned to see an angry Danse. "I have no idea what's happening so you better start explaining."

The Sergeant turns to glance at the Doc in his bright white power armor hovering over the unconscious form of the courier. The stump of wood was removed from his stomach He turns back to the Paladin. "The plan is simple. We use eyebot equipped with sonic emitters to dig our way into the sewer system and sneak through it until where under the gates. After that, we use shock and awe to blast through their defenses and once we're past the gate we call in our vertibirds and mother zeta fighters to cover our escape."

The Paladin seem skeptical of the idea. "That seems like a complicated plan that needs a lot of details. Which doesn't seem possible for us, we've only been here for two days."

Veronica step in. "I bet it's our little friends the courier's plan, which means it's pretty thought out."

"How are you sure." Danse asked.

"Man, it all he ever did back in the Mojave. I think it is because he's paranoid about his luck." She answered with a bit of amusement in her voice.

The Sergeant chimed in. "Yup, he sent down a small amount of stealth eyebot using some sort of bat sonar radar to map down the sewers."

"How do you know these machines will work?" Danse asked.

The Sergeant gave a mental impulse towards the machine. From the corner of the room, an eyebot sprung into life and flew towards the three. The sergeant brought the attention of the two brotherhood representatives towards the sonic digger. "These are the same models we use to dig our way out of the tunnelers nests back home. I can assure you that they are combat tested."

Veronica smiled under her helmet. "By any chance did you bring any of the big guys?"

A click could be heard from the sergeant's helmet and in the background, multiple boxes shook into life and four massive Securitrons raised from the crowd, towering over the new Vegas personnel. In a booming mechanical voice, they announced their presence. "Securitron MK 3 reporting for duty!" They all said simultaneously.

The chaotic crowd didn't even flinch at the sight, the war with the tunnelers making them a common sight and making the new Vegas personnel numm to their presents. The two Brotherhood representatives could make any facial expressions with their helmets on so they settle for a nod.

"I'm off to do one more thing and then we go and start the emergency evacuation. I can trust you two can organize the troops during?" The Sergeant asked.

The Paladin was already walking off and Veronica gave the sergeant her goodbyes. "Always so diligent, I'm going to join him." She said with a wave.

The sergeant waved and slid amongst the crows, an action that was made difficult in his power armor. Still, he made to his objection and found his boss still unconscious laying on a cot. A different follower of apocalypse doctor was tending to him, alongside the Jackals medic who was working on some sort of pad version of teh pip boy. The sergeant saw the chunk of wood was removed from the courier as there was a set of bloody bandages were covering the wound. The Sergeant turned to the medic. "How is he."

The doctor looked up from his work into the orange lens of the Sergeants helmet. He sunk at his wither gaze and gripped his tools tightly. The Sergeant spoke. "His condition?"

The doctor placed his tools down and pulled off his rubber gloves. "He lost a lot of blood but thanks to his implants he will be up and walking in a few hours. Still, there is an anomaly."

The Sergeant twitched. "Is it bad?"

The doctor seems to shrink further at the question. "His bones are molding together and will eventually turn him into a living statue."

The Sergeant stumbled in his posture. "Is he going to be fine? He has to be fine!" The Sergeant muttered out instinctively, fear seeping into him. He never thought the man who rebuilt civilization capable of dying before him in such a way. He always imagined himself being the one who eventually saved him and repaying the debt of his life to him.

The memory resurfaced as he imagen failing his boss. It was a cold nuclear winter as his nomadic tribe wondered between territories and caught the sight of the NCR. They saw on how they traded in advance technology that no one else seems to have. They came to them and demanded that they showed them where it came from. He as the champion of his people stood up to them and demanded they leave. It was a mistake to think that they would.

An army was sent to pull the secrets they had from them, reasoning that their actions were justified if they got a hold of something that gave them an edge against New Vegas. They were able to fight back as the troopers were poorly equipped and undertrained, still, his tribe was a wolf facing a swarm of locust. He was forced to fall back to the hidden military base known as area 51 and make a last stand. His people fought with honor but in the end, we're left broken and at the mercy of the NCR. At his knees, he saw as the lieutenants ordered his people to be silenced, they could risk them laking the information of the military base. The young boys that made up the army hesitated and bought the few seconds needed to summon the demon, to summon the courier. Great machines cut down the lines of men like a scythe through wheat, great birds of metal were summoned to rain steel and fire upon his enemies. It was over within minutes but his people were saved and taken in. Their future and culture remained intact in exchange were their home and souls.

He made an oath to make sure the Courier lived as lone he drew breath. He learned to arts of war and adapted to the ways of New Vegas. He sacrificed his life to make sure that others could keep going and did so with the fate of his people on his back and it was all going to fall apart.

He felt himself lose focus and his mind started wondering. In a moment he was about to fall into a panic. He was saved when a hand clasped his wrist. The Courier was looking at him with disappointed eyes. "You still have a job to do Sergeant." His voice hit him like a truck and the man returned to himself.

"You… You're awake?" He said still shaken by the revelation.

"Damn right I am, you woke me with your whimpering and you know how much I hate that noise. Now get back to work or you're going to force me to do it myself!" He said with humor intended but this made the Sergeant nervous. He still needed to get everyone to safety.

He stood at the ready and saw his Desert Jackals giving him the thumbs up from every corner of the room. Brotherhood knight readied their various weapons for the breach. The unarmored men and woman stood next to the injured clutching both the medical stretcher and sidearms. Their faces show both determination and fear. The Sergeant stepped forward and raised an arm and everyone's attention was given to him.

"For now the Japanese are trying to dig us out of the rubble above. That has bought us time to escape." He turned to the Securitrons and eyebots with their sonic diggers sparking with energy. "We will use sonic diggers to reach the Japanese Sewer system and find our way to the gate. The Securitrons will be leading the way and the power armor units will be behind, the rest of you will be in the middle use us as cover." He pauses to see the crowd nervously shift at the present danger of the escape. He understood too well his next words will be dangerous. "If you are injured and cannot follow, you will be left behind and your laser pistols will detonate, cause both death and our technology safety."

The crowd murmured their worry to each other, some looking at their guns with both fear and longing. "The operation will start in five minutes, so get ourselves packed and ready." The Sergeant walked off to meet Veronica waiting for him. Danse was in the crowd, getting his knights ready for the charge. "Tell me how the others are taking the news." The Sergeant asked worriedly.

She nodded her head, the equivalent to a shrugged in her massive suit of power armor. "My family was always suckers for suicidal attempts at making our technology staying in the brotherhood of steel. You won't be seeing them shy away from a bit of self-sabotage." She said in a cheerful tone. She clutched her powerfist. "Still even if we make it out of the city, were running into a Japanese military base on the other side of that gate.

The Sergeant light tapped his wrist. "We got a few agents that will create an opening for our flyboys. Remember this was planned by the most paranoid man in the multiverse." He joked.

The two continued parted ways and it left the Sergeant to get a few things ready and after that, his helmet clicked. Time was up and in the top of his lungs her counted down to the operation start.

5\. everyone scrambled into position.

4\. Brotherhood knights raised their guns at the wall.

3\. Securitrons moved to take point.

2\. The Desert Jackals join in the ranks of the Brotherhood soldiers.

1\. Six clicked his pistol Maria's safety off.

The Eye bots let out a sonic wave that was tune to turn concrete into the sand. The sound vibrated the walls and a small thin tunnel was created. No time was wasted as Securitron Mk 3 rolled out right behind them and the first of the personnel was following the massive machines. It took mind racking minutes to get them all out and for all of the time, it worried the Sergeant. If a Japanese squad of soldier found them, it would be a perfect time for them to make a crippling blow. The Sergeant let out a breath he didn't know he was holding when he was able to get through the tunnel.

It wasn't over as they had to travel through the cramp tunnel systems. The square damp tunnels held a near impenetrable darkness. Making it near impossible to see beyond the person in front of them without the assistance of night vision. What made the situation nearly unbearable was the smell of human waste assaulting their senses. Minutes past as nothing happens as they traveled the tunnels. Creating a tense air of fear, making everyone twitchy. With their triggers. His radio came to life with an artificial voice. "Calculated time of arrival 26 minutes."

The Sergeant wondered of the Securitrons sensors. "Can you detect any other life forms?" He asked over his comms device.

"Only four lifeforms detected. Estimated to be life forms known as turtles. No other life forms found." It booms out in an artificial voice.

The Sergeant wondered what turtles where and if they were dangerous. He discarded the thought as the Securitrons would have told him if they were dangerous.

He moved through the tunnels for what seems like an eternity. Then his helmet ping with a warning. Movement up ahead, twelve sets of footsteps and most likely the Japanese soldiers checking the sewers for them. He gave the order to engage as soon as sight contact was made. The Securitrons gave their confirmations. He looked back towards his jackals and open his radio.

"Enemies are within our perimeter stay on your toes." His Jackals gave their confirmations.

The Securitions gave another Ping. This time two dozen more singles were found and this time heading towards them. One of his Jackals radioed him. "We should hurry, they somehow learn a way to track us."

The Desert Jackal leader contemplated the question, The pace they were moving at was short a jog but was perfect for transporting they're injured. Any faster and the critical ones might suffer from the increase in speed. He wouldn't hesitate to give the order but the courier was with them. "If there are more coming then we can double time it." He said in a monotone.

Then came another ping hit his helmet. More dots were heading towards them, leaving no doubt that they are being tracked. The question is how they were doing it. Then it came to him as soon one of his Jackals gave the order over the radio.

"Move it, people!" Screamed Jackal 7.

They must be tracking their radio chatter, it is something common here should be a simple trick of there to do and they fell for it. Like a raider gang being herded to a kill zone, they were blindsided by unknown elements.

The group ran and the radio chatter started to explode. Question on what was happening and brotherhood knights being given orders to rearrange their position. He reacted with a panicked voice, he needed to shut them up before they gave away their plan.. "Everyone quite the radio chatter they are tracking us that way!" He screamed and soon it was quiet.

They kept moving in a sprint and forced to scream at one another in an attempt to remain cohesive. Then it came, the Eye bot digger pinged him they were about to run into their first JSDF soldiers. Serg made sure to signal to his Jackals to keep a lookout. A minute passed as no contact was made. The Sergeant was sure it was just them waiting for backup and with another ping his suspicions were right. His helmets hid showed four dozen Japanese soldiers moving into a blockade formation. He cursed to himself for believing this might have gone smoothly. They were doom for a hellish firefight from the get-go.

It was far worse than the Sergeant first thought. He heard the Securitrons lunch the first barrage of missiles but there to set off explosives. The first was off in the distance from the set the Securitrons fired but the second was from the Japanese. They had brought mobile anti-armor weapons and they were a sight. The Securitrons were either blown to pieces or made unable to move. The people closest to the explosions were caught in a hail of shrapnel and fire, killing or maiming them.

The Sergeant pushed forward, pushing away all those in his way and making to the front. All of his Jackals followed except for the medic who moved to attend to the survivors and raised their weapons forward. They were assault with a minor amount of rifle fire and the Desert Jackal returned fire. A combination of plasma bolts, laser beams and 50. Cal munitions flew down the narrow corridor and the screams of the illuminated JSDP soldiers could be heard. The sight of large caliber rounds and energy fire showed the soldiers being ripped apart.

The Sergeant ran forward, accepting the return fire and letting his power armor shrug off the rifle bullets, him with his Jackals return fire without care for accuracy. The Sergeant radio the charge to the staff behind him and got a confirmation in return. The whole situation was a hell hole. The narrow corridor made shooting a simple matter of aiming forward and firing. They attempt to close the distance try ramming through them but the Japanese soldier only needed to fall back and continued to return

The Desert Jackals had the upper hand in close and outclassed the Japanese soldier but still, it was hell. The desert Jackals power with its Saturnite plating made it very resistance against small arms and it could take the constant pounding of the 5.56mm bullets, but the people inside were not invisible against the kinetic energy. Slowly but surely the soldiers inside were being whittled down. The Sergeant kept firing at the Japanese soldiers but his aim was being thrown by the impact of bullets on his saturnite plates.

Firing his plasma rifle towards the head of a Japanese soldier only for it go wide by a 5.56 round hitting his shoulder and landing a blow onto his vest. It was an ugly kill, the plasma superheated the combatant's harden steel plate protecting him and becoming molten slag. Slowly killing the man and forcing his comrades to slow their retreat and drag him with them. It was all pointless as he saw the molten steel plate start melting through the chest and killing the man by burning away at his insides.

The whole situation continues like this for fifteen minutes, the Jackals attempting to make accurate hits while the Japanese fall back and firing back. It was then the Sergeant got a ping on his helmet and saw a swarm of dots that was attempting to hit them by the rear. Then came the deafening sound of more gunfire coming from the rear. Shouts of panic came from New Vegas personnel behind them as the increased amount of projectile in the air made it possible for them to pass between the power armor soldiers and hit them. The Sergeant just gritted his teeth and push forward until he knew he was underneath the Gate.

It was then he got a transmission directly to his radio embedded in his helmet. After firing his plasma rifle toward another soldier he responded. "Whos interrupting me!" He yelled in frustration from the pain and stress.

"It's your boss jackass." The courier quipped.

This made The Sergeant snapshot another plasma bolt that went wide and missing a target. "What's the matter." He said as calmly he would while being pounded be enemy munition.

The courier responded with ragged breath as the sound of gunfire could be heard in the background."I know you're planning on sneaking underneath the gate and run toward the exit."

Another round impacted his knee forcing him to stumble but he quickly recovers and fired another plasma bolt in retaliation. He returned to his conversation. "Yeah so?" The Sergeant quickly responded.

"Then the enemy knows it. They are likely leading you towards a trap. You have to find another way. Gah." The courier said will grunting out a pained gasp.

The felt the sensation of burning as a grenade was lobbed towards him and exploded in front of him and soon after a stimpack was automatically injected into him. He was about to ask why but then he heard the sound of sartunite knees impacting the concrete floor and saw Jackal 3 clasping his neck seal of his armor. Crimson red was gushing out and the sound of an empty medical injector sounded. The man nearly doubled over before Jackal caught him mid-fall and started dragging him in one arm and firing his laser rifle in the other. The Sergeant knew they needed to get out fast but any deviation of their run might make it worse. "How do you know they'll be setting up an ambush?" the Sergeant asked.

"It's what I'll do and I believe these people are smart enough to plan for something like this." The courier stated.

He looked forward and saw in the flashes of their energy weapon lighting up the dark that regardless of how many Japanese soldiers he shoots down there seem to another waiting to take his place. Then he saw a Japanese soldier run up with what looked like a missile launcher and shoulder it. He reacted in a flash and threw a plasma grenade and activated his power armor V.A.T.S. firing a plasma bolt towards it in mid-air. It exploded in a flash of neon green and incinerating the missile launcher and anyone near it. It didn't matter if this was a trap anymore, they needed to get out or suffer an explosive death. He called out for a sonic digger and in an instant, it was at his side.

"Activate protocol dig. Get us to the surface!" He ordered in a panicking voice.

The machine compiled and it flew off to one of the walls. The Sergeant kept walking forward and offered to suppress fire for the Eye bot to do its work. The Japanese soldiers seem to double their efforts and tried their damndest to take the sonic digger down. The Sergeant and his Jackals didn't let them have the chance. They surge forward and bared down on them with unrelenting fire. His hands never moved swifter to reload his weapon as they blurred replacing the Microfusion cells. He felt confidence returning to him as it seems to be working but then a lucky bullet found a gap between the armpit of Jackal 6's armor. It tore through his undersuit and punctured a lung and ripping vital veins open. Blood gushed out of the jackal and his suits in-built medical system was failing to heal the wounds. It took only a few seconds for the man to bleed out and fall to the ground dead.

This shocked the elite units of Vegas to see another one of their number fall by sheer bad luck. The Jackal's leader forced himself to recover quickly and pushed forward and his Desert Jackals saw this and followed his example. The sonic digger kicked up dust it borrowed through the wall in amazing time. Creating a hole large enough for the Vegas personnel to escape through. The Jackals covered their approach and they stood defiantly against the native soldiers. Then they heard the countdown of Jackals 6 power armor self-destruct. It struck them that they had a moment to react before being swallowed in a miniature nuclear explosion. It was Jackal 7 who moved first. He grabbed the fallen body of his partner and bolted towards the Japanese who concentrated fire on him. The Sergeant bit down a response to the man, knowing there was no time for anything else. Instead, he gave support in the form of plasma bolts and so did the rest of the Jackals.

In a leap with the agility that would make a deathclaw blush he fell atop of the surprised Japanese soldiers and the power of Jackal 6 detonated, taking them and jackal 7 with them. The sewer tunnel became a fireball that headed towards the remaining retreating New Vegas personnel.

"Start running!" The Sergeant heard someone familiar scream.

He turned to see Six shoving as many people into the makeshift tunnel. He was clutching his bleeding bandages as he did so and tried to help but heard six give a quick order.

"Block with ice!" Six screams at Sergeant and he instinctively knew what he meant. In that split second he reached for his grenade pouch and pulled out a cryo grenade. His jackals mirrored his actions and pulled out their own cryo grenades. They pulled the pins and threw them with as fast as they could. The things impacted the blast wave when it was only a few meters away from the party and they exploded out with freezing cold temperatures impacting the superheat blast wave. The effect was similar to that of a tornado and a gust of wind near blasted the unarmored members of the New Vegas party off their feet.

The courier didn't take any time to catch his breath and continued to funnel more people through the tunnel. It disturbed quite as the last few made it to the other side into the bristling city filled with activity. Bother civil servants and civilians were running around in chaos. The Sergeant and the Brotherhood members who looked worse for wear turned to the now standing courier. Six drew Maria and checked the chamber with a click.

"Alright, how many rounds left until the gate?" The courier asked holding his wound.

The Sergeant checked. "We have about 0.2 miles left," he said with a gruff voice.

Veronica step forward with her pot marked power armor. "If we run we might be able to make it through before they get reorganized." She suggested.

Six nodded. "Possible but we need to take prisoners and then we need to keep them from putting up a defense." Six commented.

Veronica in the past would have flat out denied that order and chastised the Courier for even suggesting such an action but that was her past self, where she owned him nothing. Now she owes him her family and love of her life and everyone in the west cost future. It wasn't if she could even change his mind. The courier just wasn't a person you could deny in a dangerous situation. She turned to Danse wondering his thoughts on the matter. He reloaded his laser rifle and made sure all of his equipment was on him, making careful checks in order none of his technology was left behind. He was truly a glowing example of a brotherhood paladin, making sure the treasures of the old world never falling in the wrong hands, including civilians. She let out a pained sigh. "Make sure we don't put them in any excessive danger." Veronica said defeated.

The courier smiled and then wasted no time in giving orders. "Alright then, the surviving personnel and brotherhood knights will be joining me in taking prisoners and from the look of that crowd it won't be hard." He turned to the Sergeant. "You and Jackals are the most mobile of the group and are responsible for breaking up any form of counter-offensive the Japanese build up."

The Sergeant was half way of confirming before he felt a sharp pain stab him in his midsection. He lurched forward clutching himself. The pain soon faded when his power armor automatically injected him with Med x and another stimpack.

"Your suffering from internal bleeding. Stimpacks won't help that unless we drain the blood." the courier pointed out.

"I'll deal with it as soon we get back to base. For now, the power armor emergency protocols will do." The Sergeant said with audible strain.

Six nodded, understanding anymore hesitation will get them killed. "Alright, let get a move on!" The courier ordered and the party followed his orders without hesitation.

The Sergeant started moving purely on the power of the servos of his power armor. His armor would function as a temporary crutch and leave most of the strain off of his own limbs. He was stopped by the medic. "We lost Jackal 3 Serg."

The sergeant crushed inwardly. "I assume you stalled his armors self-destruct mechanism." He said without showing emotion.

Doc nodded. "I assume you wanted to fulfill his last within using him like a bomb. He would have wanted to take as many possible." He said with humor.

The Sergeant chuckled. "Just make sure when you carry him and don't let his body slow you down."

The medic nodded and when they heard the sound of Maria being shot into the air, it was a single that the courier started to take prisoners. "Beat feet everyone!" The Sergeant barked and in less than a heartbeat they were running with speed that the bones in their legs would have shattered if it wasn't for the armor.

The Jackals made out of the alleyway and saw the group escorting a group of civilians as meat shields and the Japanese soldier attempting to stop them but failing miserably. The Brotherhood of steel and the armed vegas personnel made pot shots towards the native soldiers. The courier although limping due to his injuries was able to make deadly accurate shots with Maria and hitting the Japanese soldiers in non-armored area's. Though the new vegas part was moving at a relative's snail's pace and we're going to be surrounded without the Jackals intervention.

In the corner in a dark alley was a disgraced lieutenant of the Japanese military and he watched in horror as he saw what he brought out to the world. The man clutched a fist and followed without being seen. Waiting for the right moment. Itami would not let his mistake take any more lives.

The squad of elite new vegas soldiers moved to intercept any problems that were going to cause problems. The local policing forces set up sniper nest that was intercepted by the Jackals own team sniper, firing their Gauss rifle in snapshots that left the Japanese soldiers headless. When they saw a team of riot shields approached they conservatively fired what few remaining shoulders mounted mortars they had and when the formation was broken they fired into the group their primaries

Then they came to a blockade of lightly armored transports with 50 cals. mounted on top. The Japanese moved them in the last second almost in front of the Couriers party on a cross-section. Their mounted machine gun crews fired with suppressive fire in an attempt to stall the group but Six new if they did they would be encircled and that would be the end. In the chaos, Itami was able to sneak into the crowd of civilians and pass by as a prisoner. He pressed forward in a show of unbelievable marksmanship he was able to get a critical hit on one of the gunners and taking out one of the machine guns.

The second one swiveled to fire at the courier but instead was engulfed an expanding ball of plasma. The jackals fired their last plasma mortar into the other transport but moved out of the way and retreated. Six gestured his thanks to the hidden Jackals and pressed on.

This sort of scenario repeated itself to the last stretch of the journey until they were met with a line of tanks aimed their barrels directly at Six and the survivors of the embassy. The two in charge were on top of a hatch of an armored transport. The one in front was Koji Sugawara in a dress shirt and with a military helmet equipped and next to him was Akira Yanagida with his usual confident demeanor replaced with a grim one.

The diplomat spoke with the speakers in full blast. "Courier surrender and release the hostages. If you do we will give you a fair trial and a grantee that this situation will be sorted." Koji said with clam practice.

Six step forward and rolling his shoulders and they snapped louder than one would imagine possible for simple stretching. "I'm going to make this simple. I'm going to give you an ultimatum and you will follow it."

Koji was taken aback at the brashness of the courier. "That's unreaso-" He was cut off by the courier.

"Look I'm not in the mood for an argument so I'll make this simple. Our guns are better than yours and those tanks are very squishy when it comes to plasma mortars. The deal is that you let us through and we will give you half our prisoners then when we're out of your borders we will send you the other half. If you don't accept this deal we will blast your way through you like wet tissue paper and we don't care for the collateral damage we create. You have five seconds to start moving."

The presents the courier was giving off was a hell of a sight. Koji may be a well respected Japanese diplomat and has had his fair share of a scuffle that needed a stronger will than most but he never really faced something like this. The courier stood with the aura of a man who would claim to threaten to be down hell upon you and actually follow through. It was hardest on Koji when he looked into his bright brown eyes that almost looked like a burning orange. They told him to accept the deal and it was too much for him.

Sugawara shakily raised the speaking device to his lips and spook. "F-fine." He turned to Yanagida. "Tell the men to create a path."

Six made a gesture with his head and the brotherhood knights parted ways to let half of the prisoners go. Six saw the men and women as they passed by him, all of them scared but unharmed. Six had to suppress a smile at the luck but then he saw something weird. One of them seem familiar and then he felt a fist smash into his face and then he felt cold steel press against his neck. Alongside his gun being thrown out of his grip.

Itami pinned down the courier with the same dagger he took from the first Empire soldier he killed. "Surrender or I'll kill your lea-" Itami demand was cut short as the courier both his dagger blade was taken into the courier's hand and was paid back for the punch he gave. The two fought for control and this created a panic. The civilian both being released and being held hostage went a full sprint. The New Vegas personal were able to get a hold of a few to make sure they weren't at the mercy of the Japanese tanks.

The Japanese didn't open fire with the large guns as they would cause too much harm to their people still being held but did fire at the overly exposed personal and cutting them down with extreme prestigious towards those they saw as mass murders.

The Jackals and Brotherhood members moved to silence the guns. The Jackals fired at anyone who both weren't new vegas and holding a gun. The Brotherhood knights in the other hand threw pulse grenades towards the tanks and when they detonated they did succeed in shutting the vehicle down but failed in taking down the emplaced guns as they didn't run on an engine. The two sides fought and each taking massive casualties as the close range of the engagement made it difficult to miss.

In the middle of this were Itami and the courier wrestling on the concrete floor. Itami wasn't the best fighter and if the Courier was at a 100% would be nothing more than a small bother to the man. Lucky for him Six had several broken bone and was missing 15% of his blood and had a dagger bearing down on him. Still, Six survived far worse with much less and wasn't totally unarmed. Six jerked his body to the side and let the dagger pass by him and hitting the floor and then smashed his fist at the side of Itami's head dazing the man. When he opened his eyes he found the Barrel of a 9mm pistol on his forehead. Itami eyes went wide and moved his mouth without him thinking it. "Shoot me and you have no cover!" He shouted.

Six just smiled. "I think I'm alright. I made a call to a few friends that you might know." The Otaku raised an eyebrow at that, then heard the explosion. His head snapped at its direction and saw a burning infernal coming from the gate. He saw the armored transport holding Yoji and Akira going up in flames. Then seeing another LAT come bursting through the flames and watched as its gunner opening fire with the 50 cals towards their allies. Then came a bang and the world going black.

Six got off the corps and didn't look back as he ran towards the synths that he placed in the Japanese base weeks ago. They spotted him and open the back hatch and he got in just as his own Jackal got them. Other LTA's came through the burning wreckage to pick up the rest and then the doors slammed shut. In an exhausted slump, he sat and let his head go limp. Then came one of them. The synth leader.

He saluted in a sort of mock gesture on who the man used to be. "Sir! We've received your message and sent the warning back to headquarters! We also detonated the explosive that will create a hole for long enough to escape."

Six summoned the energy to raise his head and ask a question. "I'm assuming the exploding tanks were your handiwork."

The synth nodded. "No, sir! We were able to swap a few of the engineers and replace them. They were the ones who sabotaged the vehicles and most of the Japanese gate base. They are currently making sure that our escape route stays open." He said as if addressing a superior officer.

Six was surprised at that. He didn't know that 111 made more. It worried him but moved it aside for another thing. "The Empire princess that came with us, was she taken?"

The soldier remained at attention. "From the last radio transmission that mentions her said she was in the Japanese custody.

Six smiled, he could use this. Last time he heard the empire was raising an army of wizards. With a few honey words and a few deals struck he could make this into an enemy of an enemy situation.

The transport bulked and six caught himself on his seat. A voice came from the driver seat. "Hold on, we're outside of the Japanese gate base. No one is perusing, the enemy base is in too much chaos."

Six felt relieved to be free and didn't need to remain awake. As soon he closed his eyes he fell asleep.

 **Sort story time.**

 **Believe or not the courier has a love life. He's not a ladies man like his younger brother but that's because he's a romantic. He wants the special someone he can see himself grow old with. Too bad everytime he finds someone fate seem to break his heart every time. Sometimes the girl he fancies find someone else or just isn't interested. Those are the lucky ones, there are other relationships that end very suddenly and very violently. Like that one time where the Stacey, the current girlfriend of the courier got strapped to a missile and fired towards the moon by an old rival. Then there was the time where Marry another courier girlfriend was kidnapped by the super mutant and turned into a twisted amalgamation of dog and human.**

 **Then there was marry. A Jazz singer from a dive bar who bearly made enough to pay off her sister's debts. Man, the courier thought she as the one, he fell for her when she snags her first note on the stage and he was downing a scotch at the bar. They were soul mates as she just wanted a normal life and the courier wanted to retire from his day of adventuring. For a few weeks, the two dated and six was quite happy but that day came. Marry's sister was in danger and she wasn't willing to abandon her sister to the loan shark's thugs.**

 **It was then the courier decided to help out the best way he could, with lasers and violence. Marry told him he didn't need to but oh boy he insisted. A gunfight broke out the dive bar the courier met Marry and it was like a sight from those western movies where the courier made hip shots and leaving the loan shark goons with new holes in their heads. When the dust settled the courier came out victorious. Then he walked in the dive bar and found something that made him swear to never act so stupid. He walked over to the bar and found something that made him nearly fall to his knees.**

 **It was... a break-up note from Marry.**

 **She told him off for being a hot-headed moron who just killed off some people who weren't actual loan sharks. They just called themselves that to have some street credit and that they were quite the nice bunch who took care of her sister gambling problem and made sure they didn't loan her more than she could pay back. She took her sister and skipped town to get away from him.**

 **After this, the courier stopped dating for a while and soon after the whole gate thing happen.**


End file.
